Palo Alto Weekly 02.19.2010 - Section 1

Section 1 edition of the February 19, 2010 edition of the Palo Alto Weekly

Palo
Alto
6°Ê888]Ê ÕLiÀÊÓäÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£ä N 50¢
Palo Alto’s budget
deficit balloons
Page 3
w w w.PaloA ltoOnline.com
Powerless
Palo Alto
Fatal plane crash
knocks out electricity
to 28,000 homes,
businesses
PAGE 10
Transitions 17
Spectrum 18
Movies 25
Puzzles 47
N Sports No ‘power outage’ by Paly hoops
Page 19
N Arts Dramatizing the history of theater
Page 22
N Home Dazzling displays of daffodils
Page 29
Ask the Dietitian
LifeSteps® Weight Management Program
A registered dietitian will be available to answer questions. Pick up
free handouts, a portion guide bookmark, and view special displays
and other nutrition resources. Free.
LifeSteps® is a comprehensive program that stresses the importance
of healthy food choices, physical activity and behavior modiﬁcation
techniques for weight management.
Mountain View Center, 650-934-7373
701 East El Camino Real
Third Floor, Community Health Resource Center
Thursday, March 4, 11, 18 and 25, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Mountain View Center, 650-934-7373
701 East El Camino Real
Palo Alto Center, 650-614-3200
795 El Camino Real
Community Health Resource Center
Thursday, March 4 and 18, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 9, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 23, 2:30 – 4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 31, 10:15 – 11:30 a.m.
Nutrition Services
PAMF’s Nutrition and Diabetes Education Departments have registered
dietitians who offer one-on-one counseling and education for weight
management, nutrition-related medical diagnoses and other nutrition
needs.
Mountain View Center, 650-934-7177
701 East El Camino Real
Lecture
Palo Alto Center, 650-853-2961
795 El Camino Real
Improving South Asian Health:
Heart Disease and Diabetes Prevention
This lecture covers how to identify your South Asian adjusted risk
factors for heart disease and diabetes, lifestyle changes to live longer,
and tips for nutrition and healthy eating. Free.
Redwood City Center, 650-853-2961
805 Veterans Boulevard
Mountain View Center, 650-934-7373
701 East El Camino Real
Third Floor, Conference Rooms C & D
Wednesday, March 11, 7 – 8 p.m.
This two-hour walk through Nob Hill Foods will enlighten and inspire
you with tips for reading food labels, understanding how stores are
laid out and shopping strategies. Pre-registration, fee charged.
HMR® Weight Management Program
Supermarket Wise
Nob Hill Grocery, 650-934-7373
1250 Grant Road
Thursday, March 4, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
This is a research-based, medically supervised weight management
program designed for those, ages 16 and up, who would like to lose
between 10 and 200 and more pounds.
HMR Center (Mountain View), 650-404-8260
700 East El Camino Real, Suite 100
Page 2ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
For more nutrition-related information, visit
pamf.org.
Upfront
Local news, information and analysis
Palo Alto braces for ballooning budget gaps
Flagging sales figures, slumping state economy
blamed for city’s bleak financial future
by Gennady Sheyner
alo Alto’s annual budget deficit will more than triple over
the next decade if the city
doesn’t slash its services or find
significant new revenue sources, a
financial forecast shows.
The new document, which the
P
City Council’s Finance Committee
discussed Tuesday night, projects
that the deficit in Palo Alto’s general
fund will balloon from $6.4 million
in fiscal year 2011 to $19.6 million
in 2020 if the city doesn’t reduce
costs or find new revenue sources.
The general fund, which pays for
most basic city services, also faces
a $6.3 million shortage in the fiscal
year 2010, which ends June 30. City
officials raised the projected 2010
budget deficit from $5.4 million to
$6.3 million this month because
of continuing decline in sales-tax
revenues.
On Tuesday, city officials proposed to close the 2010 gap through
a combination of fund transfers, sav-
ings from vacant positions and onetime cost reductions. This allows
the city to postpone making major
“structural” (more permanent) cuts
until the next year.
But council members also agreed
that bigger structural changes would
need to be made in future years to
contain Palo Alto’s spiraling deficit. Councilman Greg Scharff was
one of several committee members
to argue Tuesday that program cuts
alone won’t achieve the balanced
budgets — new revenue sources will
be equally critical.
“The cuts you’re making in 2012,
2013 through 2020 — you can’t
make those kinds of cuts every year
and survive as a city,” Scharff said.
“You can’t tax your way out of this.
You need some growth in sales tax
and property tax.”
(continued on page 5)
COMMUNITY
Honors for
accomplished
seniors
‘Lifetimes of Achievement’
awards recognize
outstanding, long-term
community involvement
by Martin Sanchez
A
(continued on page 5)
(continued on page 6)
Veronica Weber
Alto before his arrest, was charged
with homicide and arson after an
accelerant-sniffing dog detected
accelerant on Zumot’s shoes, socks,
pants and sweatshirt. Bowman had
disputed these results and pointed
to an analysis from the U.S. Department of Justice, which could not
verify the police dog’s findings.
Bowman had argued that Zumot
was at Da Hookah Spot at the time
of the Oct. 15 fire and thus could not
have committed the crime.
Bowman said Tuesday that a “reasonable bail” in this case would be
about $1 million.
He argued that Zumot is not a
flight risk and said Zumot’s family
is willing to pay for an electronicmonitor bracelet and to hire a security guard to make sure Zumot
doesn’t flee.
former Los Altos mayor, a
physicist for HP and the U.S.
Navy and a philanthropic
husband-and-wife team were
among six local seniors honored
with “Lifetimes of Achievement”
awards from the nonprofit group
Avenidas last week.
This year’s honorees are community volunteer/philanthropist Elizabeth Wolf, venture capitalist Gordon
Russell, former Mayor Marge Bruno,
physicist Emery Rogers and philanthropists Fred and Marcia Rehmus.
Avenidas, a Palo-Alto based organization serving local seniors and
their families, presents the annual
awards to seniors who distinguish
themselves through outstanding
contributions to their communities.
There were 39 nominees for this
year’s awards, Kari Martell, Avenidas’ director of marketing and communications, said.
The honorees “exemplify the
successful traits of remaining active, involved and committed to the
causes they care about, helping to
make a difference in our community,” Avenidas CEO Lisa Hendrickson said.
The award recipients were announced at a private reception Feb.
11 at the Garden Court Hotel in Palo
Alto. A May 16 garden party will
be open to the public and hosted by
Avenidas, the Palo Alto Weekly and
Palo Alto Online.
The nominees were drawn from
a broad spectrum of community
service.
Wolf has participated in a wide
Pheasant not under glass
A male pheasant roams in the grass along Runnymede Street in East Palo Alto, not far from the Baylands.
CRIME
Victim: Murder suspect
‘infatuated with killers’
No bail for Bulos Zumot of Palo Alto, who is charged with
strangling girlfriend, setting house on fire
by Gennady Sheyner
A
ccused murderer Bulos Zumot of Palo Alto was “infatuated with serial killers” and
wanted to “plan the perfect murder
where no one would suspect him,”
according to a police report released
Tuesday by Chuck Gillingham,
Santa Clara County deputy district
attorney and the lead prosecutor in
the case against Zumot.
Zumot, whom police allege mur-
dered his girlfriend, Jennifer Schipsi, and set the cottage they shared
on fire to cover up the crime, was in
Santa Clara County Superior Court
Tuesday morning in hopes of being
released on bail. However, Judge Patricia Lucas denied Zumot’s request
despite arguments from the defense
that Zumot is not a flight risk and
that the circumstances of the case
have changed significantly since
the court first decided to hold him
without bail.
Lucas ruled against Zumot after the prosecution released new
evidence, including excerpts from
police reports in which Schipsi accused Zumot of having a “shady”
thought process, “suspicious paranoid nature, fascination with crime
scene shows, creating the perfect
crime, and making sure he would
never be caught.”
Zumot, 36, has been held without
bail since Oct. 19, when Palo Alto
police arrested him and charged him
with killing 29-year-old Schipsi and
burning down their Addison Avenue
cottage. Zumot’s attorney, Cameron
Bowman, filed a motion last month
asking the court to set bail for his
client, who pleaded not guilty to the
charges last month.
Zumot, who operated Da Hookah
Spot on University Avenue in Palo
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 3
Upfront
Please Join in the Fun!
TEXAS HOLD â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EM POKER TOURNAMENT
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Allied Arts Guild
Menlo Park
Held at the ALLIED ARTS GUILD
75 Arbor Road, Menlo Park, 94025
Sunset Room
Entry Fee $50, Re-entry $50
(Includes 2500 in chips, rafďŹ&#x201A;e ticket)
Register Online www.alliedartsguild.org
Play to start at 12:00 (12 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5 p.m.)
Great Prizes (no cash)
-ENWOMEN AGES AND UP s !LL 3KILL ,EVELS
Presented by AAGA Men Associate Members
450 CAMBRIDGE AVE, PALO ALTO, CA 94306
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PUBLISHER
William S. Johnson
EDITORIAL
Jay Thorwaldson, Editor
Jocelyn Dong, Managing Editor
Carol Blitzer, Associate Editor
Keith Peters, Sports Editor
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Chris Kenrick, Gennady Sheyner, Staff Writers
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A Guide to
the Spiritual Community
First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto
Sunday School for all ages â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:00 a.m.
Sunday Services â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10:25 a.m.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The children in our midst, the mission at our
doorstep, a place of hospitality and graceâ&#x20AC;?
625 Hamilton Ave, Palo Alto
(650) 323-6167 s WWW&IRST0ALO!LTOCOM
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC
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This Sunday:
The Temptation to be Good
Rev. Dr. Eileen Altman Preaching
An Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ
Stanford Memorial Church
University Public Worship
Sunday, February 21st, 10:00 am
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Transforming Temptationsâ&#x20AC;?
Rev. Dr. C. George Fitzgerald
All are
welcome.
Information:
650-723-1762
Music featuring the Memorial Church Choir and
University Organist, Dr. Robert Huw Morgan
http://religiouslife.stanford.edu
We Invite You to Learn and Worship with Us.
FPCMV welcomes our new Pastor
Timothy R. Boyer.
Biblically based Sermons and
Worship Service 10:30 AM.
www.fpcmv.org
1667 Miramonte (Cuesta at Miramonte) 650.968.4473
INSPIRATIONS
A resource for special events and ongoing
religious services. To inquire about or make
space reservations for Inspirations, please contact
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email byoc@paweekly.com
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EXPRESS, ONLINE AND VIDEO SERVICES
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BUSINESS
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Business Associates
ADMINISTRATION
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& Promotions Director
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EMBARCADERO PUBLISHING CO.
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Services
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Computer System Associates
The Palo Alto Weekly (ISSN 0199-1159) is
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Page 4Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x2122;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ¤Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;
BeneďŹ ts Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital!
There was fire everywhere.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Benita Brown, eyewitness to Wednesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fatal
small-plane crash in East Palo Alto. See story on
page 12.
Around Town
WHAT MAKES SILICON VALLEY SPECIAL? ... Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only
place in the world where Google
and Yahoo are considered old
school; where the salespeople
at RadioShack ask the customers for help; where Bible study
groups talk about â&#x20AC;&#x153;Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garage,â&#x20AC;? and where there are the
highest percentage of 40-yearolds in the world who still have
roommates. The observations
come courtesy of comedian Will
Durst, who recently entertained
more than 1,000 participants in
a â&#x20AC;&#x153;State of the Valleyâ&#x20AC;? conference. And by the way, Durst
noted, Jerry Brown just got a
clean bill of health from his paleontologist.
OUT OF POWER ...
A Palo Alto resident is seeking
$60 from the city after two of his
VCRs were damaged in an electrical failure earlier this month.
This wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the major Feb. 17
outage, which hit the entire city
and forced most local businesses to close down, but a brownout that occurred on Madison
Way on Feb. 4. According to a
claim filed by Lewis Schiff, the
brown-out caused the powersupply sections of the two VCRs
to burn out, â&#x20AC;&#x153;rendering both
units useless.â&#x20AC;? The claimant
is seeking $30 for each VCR,
based on VCR selling-prices he
found on eBay.
VIRAL VIDEO ... Once perceived as a significant threat, the
H1N1 virus now earns shrugs
from the general populace â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so
much so that health departments, fearful of a third wave
of the flu, are trying to entice
people into getting vaccinated.
Last week, county officials
called every home in East Palo
Alto to publicize a free flu-shot
clinic, and Santa Clara County
is posting videos on YouTube,
such as the goofy yet informative â&#x20AC;&#x153;H1N1 vs. Superheroes,â&#x20AC;?
to reach young adults. The
low-budget video features four
caped crusaders and a stealthy,
black-clad attacker with a mask
and an â&#x20AC;&#x153;H1N1â&#x20AC;? nametag. The
four superheroes end the clip
by shouting out advice for keeping the virus at bay: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Isolation,â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vaccines,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Cover your coughs
and sneezes!â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Superwater!â&#x20AC;?
WHOOPS ... City roads have
not been kind to Palo Alto police cruisers in December. Two
weeks after a distracted Palo
Alto police officer allegedly rearended a car at a stop sign on
Lytton Avenue, another officer
accidentally hit a Mercedes
while pulling out of a parking
spot on Encina Avenue. According to a police report, Officer
Cole Anthony Ghilarducciâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
cruiser was parked and facing
westbound â&#x20AC;&#x201D; toward incoming
traffic. As he was pulling out of
his parking spot, his car clipped
an eastbound Mercedes, driven
by Redwood City resident Kim
Huynh. The police cruiser damaged the Mercedesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; right-front
bumper and fender, causing
$5,764.22 in damage. The officer said his view was obstructed
by a large truck parked along
the curb in front of the cruiser.
Still, he was found â&#x20AC;&#x153;at faultâ&#x20AC;? for
driving on the wrong side of the
roadway. No one was injured.
DRIVING HABITS ... Sen. Joe
Simitian, who championed
Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;hands-freeâ&#x20AC;? cell
phone law, is pointing at recent
traffic-collision statistics as proof
that the new law works. Simitian
cited numbers from the California Highway Patrol showing a
20 percent reduction in fatalities and collisions in the state in
the first six months of the lawâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
implementation, as compared to
the same six-month period in recent years. The law, which bans
drivers from talking on their cell
phones without hands-free devices, was implemented on July
1, 2008. Simitian said in a statement that the new statistics are
consistent with a 2008 analysis
from the Public Policy Institute
of California, which predicted
that the law would save 300 to
900 lives a year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of
folks who are sitting down to
dinner with their families every
day, who might otherwise not
have made it,â&#x20AC;? Simitian said in
the statement. He noted that
the data is particularly compelling given the growing number
of drivers and cell-phone users.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been able to reduce the
number of deaths and crashes
even as weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen more drivers
and more cell phones out on the
highway.â&#x20AC;? N
Upfront
(continued from page 3)
The projections assume scant economic growth in the next few years.
A report from the city’s Administrative Services Department restates
that California’s slumping economy
and high unemployment rate have
walloped the local economy.
In 2009, Palo Alto’s sales revenues dropped by $2.9 million,
or 14 percent, while hotel-tax revenues dropped by $500,000, or 7
percent. On the upside, the city’s
share of property-tax revenues rose
by $300,000 and its documentarytransfer taxes went up by $200,000
Zumot
(continued from page 3)
But Gillingham maintained that
Zumot would pose a danger to the
public if released. He pointed to Zumot’s history of domestic violence
with Schipsi; his 1994 conviction
following a family spat in Washington; his recent fallout with Hisham
Ghanma, a former friend against
whom Zumot and Schipsi had obtained a restraining order; and new
evidence suggesting that Zumot
may have been involved in money
laundering.
Gillingham also pointed to a conversation Zumot allegedly had with
his distant cousin and business associate, Said Hattar, the day after the
Oct. 15 fire. According to a report
from Palo Alto police, Hattar told
Zumot, “If you did these things, let
me help. We’ll get you out of the
country at least.” Zumot responded,
“No, I wouldn’t lie to you.”
Bowman argued that the conversation in fact supports the defense’s
position. Zumot was given an opportunity to flee, but he chose to
stay and defend himself from accusations, Bowman said.
“When given the opportunity to
leave, he chooses to stay and fight
the case,” Bowman said.
But Gillingham noted that Zumot is originally from Jordan and
argued in his brief that unlike other
defendants Zumot “has a country to
flee to with monetary resources located therein.” He also pointed to a
“suspicious activity report” filed by
Zumot’s bank on Oct. 14, the day
before the fire. According to the report, Zumot had received a $79,000
wire transfer from the United Arab
Emirates on Sept. 17, reportedly for
“personal needs.”
The bank, Comerica, also observed a “sudden increase in currency withdrawal transactions”
and “what seems to be a suspicious
movement of funds transacted on
Bulos Zumot’s business and personal accounts.”
Gillingham also cited a series of
police reports further detailing the
ongoing dispute between Zumot
and Schipsi, a real-estate agent who
moved to Palo Alto from San Jose
last year. According to one report,
Schipsi had told the police that Zumot “always talks about his infatuation with murder and how he would
plan the ‘perfect murder.’” Schipsi
also told the police that Zumot was
“very angry” and that he swore at
her and told her he would kill her.
Zumot had also allegedly talked
(increases of 1.3 percent and 5 percent, respectively).
Even if Palo Alto’s financial fortunes improve, city officials will
need to rethink its services and
employee-compensation packages,
the report stated.
“Furthermore, even when the local
recovery takes hold, the traditional
revenue sources will not sustain the
current array of city services, employee salaries and benefits, and
extensive infrastructure,” Senior Financial Analyst Nancy Nagel wrote
in the report.
“Thus the city will need to trim its
service offerings, find new sources
of revenue, or continue to prune the
benefits packages offered to its em-
ployees in an equitable manner.”
Councilman Larry Klein challenged some of the numbers in the
long-term forecast, particularly its
assumptions that salaries will continue to climb by about 4 percent
even during a dismal economy.
Klein said the city should only assume salary growth if it has an accompanying growth in revenues.
“I don’t think any City Council will allow those increases at
the same time they cut programs,”
Klein said. “It’s much more reasonable to assume if revenues go down
significantly, the (salary) payments
will go down significantly.”
The new long-term forecast
shows the city’s infrastructure
about burning down Da Hookah
Spot for insurance money, according to a police report. His plans had
prompted Schipsi to leave a voicemail message for the daughter of the
building’s owner, informing her that
she has information about a “tenant
at the hookah bar.” Later, in a phone
conversation with the daughter,
Schipsi allegedly “stated that Bulos
Zumot threatened to kill and burn
down Jennifer Schipsi’s house, if
Jennifer talked to the police.”
Gillingham also dismissed Bowman’s argument that Zumot was at
Da Hookah Spot at the time of the
crime. He said surveillance evidence shows that Zumot was only at
his smoke shop for about 3 minutes
and could have easily set the fire
and then drove to Da Hookah Spot.
Bowman had told the judge that Zumot was at the University Avenue
smoke shop for about 30 minutes.
“The reality is that the defendant
was at his business for a mere 3 minutes prior to the call regarding the
fire,” Gillingham wrote. “That fact
makes his arson alibi non-existent
and certainly does not make for a
change of circumstances warranting
a lower bail.”
After the fire, a Santa Clara
County medical examiner concluded that Schipsi had a broken hyoid,
which suggested death by strangulation. According to the police report,
the medical examiner “said that the
body smelled like gasoline.”
The day after the fire, investigators found that Schipsi’s back was
relatively untouched by fire, which
suggested to the police that the victim was “incapacitated or dead at
the time of the fire.” Palo Alto police also found that the victim’s hair
appeared to have been soaked in an
accelerant such as gasoline. Police
also smelled gasoline around the
house and found a comforter on the
couch that appeared to be soaked in
an accelerant, according to a police
report written by Detective Aaron
Sunseri.
Court records show that Zumot
and Schipsi had a turbulent history
of breaking up and getting back
together again. In February 2008,
Schipsi took out a restraining order
against Zumot and accused him of
harassing her with threatening calls
and text messages. But in October
2008, she asked the court to rescind
the order.
Last August, Schipsi obtained an
emergency restraining order against
Zumot after he allegedly threatened
her. Zumot also told the police that
he and Schipsi had been arguing the
day of the fire, according to a Palo
Alto police report.
Zumot also acknowledged to the
Palo Alto police that he was “involved in illegal drug usage.” Officers found vials of human growth
hormone (HGH) and syringes at
the Addison Avenue cottage after
the fire. According to Gillingham’s
declaration, Zumot told the police
that he would “inject the drug into
himself and the victim.”
On Tuesday, Zumot’s sister Khaloud Diggs, testified that her family
had no reason to suspect any friction between Zumot and Schipsi.
She said the pair kissed and hugged
during social gatherings. Everything between them seemed to be
fine, she said.
Gillingham then asked her whether Zumot’s family became suspicious after the police intervened on
two occasions.
“The fact that the police were
brought in twice — did you or your
family members decide to get involved and make sure it didn’t happen again?” Gillingham asked her.
“Everything was fine,” she responded.
Zumot’s pretrial hearings are
scheduled to begin on April 12. N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
backlog swelling to $510 million.
This includes a $302 million backlog in maintenance for existing
city structures and $208 million
backlog for replacing and updating facilities.
The full council will discuss the
long-term budget projections on
March 29, at which time staff plans
to lay out a list of possible costsaving measures. City officials also
plan to hold a series of community
meetings in late March and April to
assess community feeling about the
city’s financial outlook and possible
cutbacks or fee increases in services
and programs.
City Manager James Keene said
he plans to talk to local neighbor-
hood associations in the coming
months about possible cuts. The
council’s Policy and Services Committee also plans to participate in
the process of prioritizing the city’s
programs and services.
Keene is scheduled to present
what he called a “trial budget” for
fiscal year 2010 to the council on
April 26. The budget would then be
revised and adopted by the council
on June 28.
“It’s clear that there’s no escape
from difficult long-term choices,”
Keene said.
“That’s the whole point of this.” N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be e-mailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
The Bowman program builds
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Lower School - Grades K - 5
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Upcoming Events
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Palo Alto Young Professionals
Melt February 23 5:30 –7 pm
544 Emerson Street Palo Alto
Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce
122 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto
(650) 324-3121
www.PaloAltoChamber.com
design by harrington design
Budget gaps
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 5
Upfront
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(continued from page 3)
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variety of local and national service
projects. She established a charitable
foundation with her late husband,
Hans, in 1966 and has contributed
funding to Eastside College Prep
School in East Palo Alto and other
schools across the country.
Wolf also housed foreign graduate students and Gunn High School
exchange students for more than 20
years and volunteers at her church.
A Palo Alto resident, she served
on numerous boards, including
Adolescent Counseling Services,
and currently serves on the board of
Abilities United (formerly C.A.R.).
Rogers had been working at HP
for 12 years when, in 1979, he
launched the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s charitable
foundation at the request of its
founders. Rogers has also served on
the boards of the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health
Council, Stanford Convalescent
Hospital and Castilleja School.
Online This Week
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These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout
the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news
or click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Newsâ&#x20AC;? in the left, green column.
7E HAVE A WELCOMING
CARING
PLACE TO STUDY BALLET
Three world premieres, including a musical based on the Truman
Capote short story â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Christmas Memory,â&#x20AC;? are on the bill for TheatreWorksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 2010-11 season. (Thursday, 4:17 p.m.)
Alexi ZubirĂ­a, Artistic Director
650.968.4455
www.westernballet.org 914 N. Rengstorff Ave. near Rt. 101 in Mtn. View
Trio of premieres in TheatreWorksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; new season
Wind-tunnel used to test trucksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; wind resistance
A wind tunnel at Moffett Field normally used to test airplanes and
other things that fly is being used to test the aerodynamics of a big
diesel truck â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to save up to 3.4 billion gallons of fuel a year. (Posted
Feb. 16 at 11:15 p.m.)
Los Altos police seek man in July sex assault
Police in Los Altos are investigating the sexual assault of a teenage
girl while she was out jogging in July 2009. The incident was only
recently reported to police. (Posted Feb. 16 at 11:12 a.m.)
Was woman pushed from vehicle in Palo Alto?
Palo Alto police are investigating a case in which a 33-year-old
woman jumped or was pushed from a moving vehicle at Alma Street
and Charleston Road shortly before 8 p.m. Monday. (Posted Feb. 16 at
9:58 a.m.)
Big waves hit Mavericks observers, injuring 13
The Mavericks Surf Contest near Half Moon Bay â&#x20AC;&#x201D; called by surfers as the biggest surfing event in history â&#x20AC;&#x201D; had bigger-than-expected
waves Saturday that flooded beaches and observers and injured at least
13 persons. The contest was won by a 36-year-old man, Chris Bertish,
from South Africa. (Posted Feb. 14 at 11:36 a.m.)
Palo Altan John Berwald dies
John Joseph Berwald, a Palo Alto resident for 55 years, former Palo
Alto City Council member and retired Standard Oil administrator,
died Feb. 9 following five years of declining health relating to Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease. He was 92. (Posted Feb. 13 at 8:33 p.m.)
Palo Alto company brings Haiti relief
As relief workers toil to rebuild Haiti following a massive earthquake, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting a boost from Palo Alto technology floating
22,000 miles over their heads. (Posted Feb. 12 at 5:41 p.m.)
The Peninsulaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier
Funeral Service Provider
Serving families since 1899
980 MiddleďŹ eld Rd, Palo Alto, California 94301
He received his bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree
and doctorate in physics from Stanford University. He also worked at
the U.S. Naval Research Lab, where
he served on a research team dedicated to improving radio functionality during heavy storms.
He lives in Palo Alto with his
wife, Nancy.
Bruno served two terms as mayor of Los Altos and two more as a
member of the Los Altos City Council. Her additional government service includes chairing the boards of
the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Santa Clara
County Paratransit committee.
She received her M.B.A. from
San Jose State University in 1977
and founded the Adobe Financial
Group in 1980.
Bruno lives in Los Altos with her
husband, Mike.
A graduate of Dartmouth College,
Russell was awarded an honorary
doctorate from his alma mater in
2005. He is a member of Dartmouthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Native American Visiting Committee
and Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Leadership Council
and chaired the Dartmouth Medical
School Board of Overseers.
Russell has held senior management
positions in the biomedical and health
care industries and was a general partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture-capital firm, for more than 20 years.
Russell has also contributed to
local health care initiatives as a
volunteer, serving as a trustee for
the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
and the Ravenswood Family Health
Center in East Palo Alto. The latter is a nonprofit health center that
treats recent immigrants and the
uninsured.
Russell lives in Portola Valley.
The Rehmuses have directed
much of their service and philanthropy towards the growth of
the arts at Stanford, where Fred
received his M.B.A in 1961. The
couple endowed a faculty position
in Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Humanities program
and donated several works of art to
the Gallery of Native American Art
at the Cantor Arts Center.
Fred Rehmus also chaired the
Cantor Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s membership board
and is currently on the board of the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Marcia Rehmus is a co-founder of
Avenidas Village, a service providing transportation, health and legal
advocacy and community activities
for local seniors living at home.
She has also served on Avenidasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
board and fund-raising committees
and worked with various committees
of Menlo-Atherton High School and
the Menlo Park School District.
The Rehmuses recently moved to
Palo Alto after living in Atherton
for many years.
Tickets for the May 16 garden
party can be purchased online at
www.avenidas.org or by contacting Avenidas at 650-289-5445. Proceeds from the event help fund the
programs offered at Avenidas. N
Editorial Intern Martin Sanchez
can be e-mailed at msanchez@
paweekly.com.
(650) 328-1360
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Funeral Home FD132
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LETâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DISCUSS:
Read the latest local news headlines
and talk about the issues at Town
Square at www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Upfront
News Digest
Palo Alto Online swamped by demand
Palo Alto Online’s Web servers received unprecedented traffic during Wednesday’s power outage, slowing the system to a crawl for most
of the day. More than 18,000 visitors came to the site, with as many as
500 people simultaneously attempting to load pages throughout the day,
substantially more than the previous maximum.
Normally, Palo Alto receives more than 130,000 unique visitors each
month.
Palo Alto Online’s servers are not located in Palo Alto and were unaffected by the power failure. Reporters and editors worked from locations
outside the city limits or from the Embarcadero Media office in Palo Alto
using limited emergency power from generators.
“We regret that our servers were unable to handle the tremendous volume yesterday,” Webmaster Frank Bravo said. “This experience makes
clear that people are counting on us to provide information on major
breaking stories and we are working to expand our ability to serve massive spikes in Web visitors during emergency situations,” Bravo said.
Some Palo Alto residents reported phoning friends or relatives outside
the city and asking them to relay news from Palo Alto Online, but this
only magnified the demand on the servers already caused by there being
a national news story taking place in the community.
Palo Alto Online and the Palo Alto Weekly also used the Palo Alto
Weekly Twitter account (twitter.com/paloaltoweekly), to make tweets
throughout the day with news updates. N
— Palo Alto Weekly staff
Valley losing federal ‘mega-investments’ race
Silicon Valley is losing the race for huge federal investments that will
jumpstart the industries of the future, a panel of Valley leaders said.
As the Obama administration makes “a series of mega-investments
in the future,” Silicon Valley trails regions such as Huntsville, Ala., in
procuring funds, CEO Emmett Carson of the Silicon Valley Community
Foundation told more than 1,000 attendees at a 2010 “State of the Valley”
conference Feb. 12 in San Jose.
The conference was convened by the Community Foundation and Joint
Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a nonprofit “analysis and action” group.
Carson and others outlined a regional funding gap in clean technologies.
He said the Valley is getting none of the $2 billion federal funds now
being disbursed for research in vehicle batteries and only $4 million of
a $184-million federal investment in energy storage.
Silicon Valley got none of the $3.5 billion going to smart-grid technology, and just $38 million of the $16 billion going to energy efficiency and
renewable energy, he said.
Attendees heard a range of expert analyses of the 2010 Silicon Valley
Index, an annual measurement the region’s wealth and health.
Joint Venture CEO Russell Hancock announced he will create a new
position to run “special ops” for procurement of federal investment for
Silicon Valley.
“The person will travel to Washington, D.C., a lot and mobilize the
entire region to advocate and cheerlead for the federal funds we require,”
Hancock said.
There is a Silicon Valley mythology that could feed overconfidence:
That entrepreneurs created it all by themselves, Managing Director Gary
Pinkus of McKinsey & Co. said.
But the reality is that early companies such as Fairchild Semiconductor
secured 80 percent of their original contracts from the Defense Department, he said.
Despite the problems Pinkus said the state still has many factors working in its favor.
“We’re still the eighth-largest economy in the world, though it might
not be going quite in the right direction.”
“While 90 percent of our economy is in services, we still hold the highest level of manufacturing employment in the country, ahead of number
two, Texas. N
— Chris Kenrick
Youngsters escape Atherton house fire
A fire caused more than $200,000 in damage to a large ranch-style
home in Atherton late Tuesday afternoon, Menlo Park Fire Protection
District Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.
Three children, ages 12, 14 and 16, were inside when the fire started
but escaped unharmed.
The single-alarm blaze damaged a 5,000-square-foot, single-story
home at 251 Greenoaks Drive. Schapelhouman said a neighbor reported
seeing heavy smoke at about 4:15 p.m.
It appears the blaze started in the motor compartment of a Ford Expedition and spread to a breezeway, then through the attic and woodshingled roof, Schapelhouman said.
Twenty-four firefighters responded and had the fire controlled by 4:43 p.m.
Schapelhouman said the fire caused $150,000 to $200,000 in damage
to the structure and approximately $50,000 in damage to contents. The
house was not immediately habitable, he said.
The official cause of the fire is under investigation. N
— Bay City News Service
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 7
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Palo Alto UniďŹ ed
School District
25 Churchill Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94306
February 19, 2010
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
Division of State Architect Approved Inspectors of Record
The Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District (District), is seeking qualiďŹ cations
from Division of State Architect (DSA) Approved Class I and, II Inspectors
of Record (IOR). The District intends, through this RFQ, to establish a
shortlist of qualiďŹ ed professionals eligible to provide Inspection Services for
various construction projects that will take place throughout the Palo Alto
UniďŹ ed School District over the next ďŹ ve (5) years.
If interested and qualiďŹ ed, proposal packets may be obtained from the
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District Facilities ofďŹ ce located at 25 Churchill
Avenue, Building â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dâ&#x20AC;?, Palo Alto, CA 94306, Phone (650) 329-3927.
L U C I L E PA C K A R D
C H I L D R E N â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S H O S P I TA L
Statements of qualiďŹ cations must be submitted on or before 2:00 p.m.
March 23, 2010. Statements of QualiďŹ cation must be marked clearly on
a sealed package â&#x20AC;&#x153;RFQ No. 01-Iâ&#x20AC;? and delivered to:
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District
District Facilities OfďŹ ce
25 Churchill Avenue, Building â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dâ&#x20AC;?
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Attn: Arnold Teten
Your Childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health University
Questions regarding this request for proposals (â&#x20AC;&#x153;RFQâ&#x20AC;?) may be directed to
Arnold Teten at FAX# (650) 327-3588.
Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital offers classes and seminars designed
to foster good health and enhance the lives of parents and children.
This is not a request for bids or an offer by the District to contract with any
party responding to this RFQ. The District reserves the right to reject any
and all Proposals. All materials submitted to the District in response to this
RFQ shall remain property of the District and may be considered a part of
public record.
CAR SEAT EDUCATION & INSTALLATION
The Kohlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Child Safety and Outreach Program at LPCH oďŹ&#x20AC;ers a free car seat check and
installation education at LPCH. Additionally there will be a car seat check at Kohlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in
Redwood City on Saturday, February 6.
Appointments can be made by calling (650) 736-2981.
PRENATAL YOGA
Join other expectant mothers-to-be in a yoga class designed to enhance strength, ďŹ&#x201A;exibility
and tranquility in preparation for the upcoming birth of your child.
- Thursdays: 5:30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6:30 pm
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed
School District
25 Churchill Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 94306
February 19, 2010
REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS
MULTIPLES SEMINARS
Are you expecting twins, triplets or more? With the potential for early delivery, expectant
parents of multiples are encouraged to learn everything there is to know about carrying and
delivering multiple infants.
- Preparing for Multiples Class: Sunday, March 7: 12:30 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 5:00 pm
- Multiples Breastfeeding Seminar: Thursday, March 10: 7:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:00 pm
STAYING CLOSE WHILE STANDING BACK
Julie Metzger, RN, creator of our â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heart to Heartâ&#x20AC;? program, hosts an evening for parents of
adolescents and young teens with a discussion of ways we can encourage our children to be
resilient, accountable, and independent people in a fast-changing world.
- Tuesday, March 9: 7:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 8:30 pm
Call (650) 723-4600 or visit www.lpch.org to register or obtain more
information on the times, locations and fees for these and other courses.
L U C I L E PA C K A R D
C H I L D R E Nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S
H O S P I T A L
C A L L TO D AY TO S I G N U P F O R C L A S S E S ( 6 5 0 ) 72 3 - 4 6 0 0
Page 8Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x2122;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ¤Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;
Labor Compliance Consulting Services
The Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Districtâ&#x20AC;?) is requesting proposals
and a statement of qualiďŹ cations from qualiďŹ ed ďŹ rms and persons to provide
professional services for labor compliance consulting services (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Servicesâ&#x20AC;?)
for various new construction and modernization projects throughout the
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District over the next ďŹ ve (5) years.
If interested and qualiďŹ ed, proposal packets may be obtained from the
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District Facilities ofďŹ ce located at 25 Churchill
Avenue, Building â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dâ&#x20AC;?, Palo Alto, CA 94306 Phone (650) 329-3927.
Statements of qualiďŹ cations must be submitted on or before 2:00 p.m.
March 24, 2010. Statements of QualiďŹ cation must be marked clearly on
a sealed package â&#x20AC;&#x153;RFP No. 02-Lâ&#x20AC;? and delivered to:
Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District
District Facilities OfďŹ ce
25 Churchill Avenue, Building â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dâ&#x20AC;?
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Attn: Arnold Teten
Questions regarding this request for proposals (â&#x20AC;&#x153;RFPâ&#x20AC;?) may be directed to
Arnold Teten at FAX# (650) 327-3588.
This is not a request for bids or an offer by the District to contract with any
party responding to this RFP. The District reserves the right to reject any
and all Proposals. All materials submitted to the District in response to this
RFP shall remain property of the District and may be considered a part of
public record.
Palo Alto Weekly
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF DIRECTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HEARING
CityView
A round-up of
Palo Alto government action this week
City Council Finance Committee (Feb. 16)
Long-term forecast: The committee discussed the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term financial projections for the years 2010 to 2020, and heard an update on the $6.3 million deficit in
the fiscal year 2010 and projections on future budget gaps. The full council is scheduled to discuss the long-term financial outlook on March 29. Action: None
City Council High-Speed Rail Committee (Feb. 17)
Alternative analysis: The committee voted to request that the California High-Speed
Rail Authority increase the comment period for its alternative analysis for the San
Francisco-to-San Jose segment of the rail line from 45 days to 90 days.
Yes: Unanimous
Community meetings: The committee voted to hold public meetings for the highspeed-rail project in both north and south Palo Alto. Yes: Unanimous
To be held at 3:00 p.m., Thursday, March 4, 2010 in the Palo Alto City Council Conference Room, 1st
Floor, Civic Center, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
Documents related to these items may be inspected by the public at the Development Center, 285 Hamilton
Avenue, Palo Alto, California on:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday
Wednesday
8:00 am - Noon, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
9:00 am - Noon, 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
1449 University-09PLN-00231-Request by Bogdan Ryczkoinski for a Preliminary Parcel Map for subdivision of one parcel into two. Zoning: R-1 (10000).
Curtis Williams
Director of Planning and Community Environment
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, listening assistive devices are available in
the Council Chambers and Council Conference Room and Sign language interpreters will be provided upon
request with 72 hours advance notice.
Architectural Review Board (Feb. 18)
Mitchell Park: The board voted to recommend approval of the proposed revisions to
the design of the new Mitchell Park Library and Community Center, 3700 Middlefield
Road. These include landscaping changes and a proposed below-grade water tank
at Middlefield Road. Yes: Lee, Lew, Malone Pritchard, Wasserman Absent: Young
Public Agenda
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL ... The council is scheduled to hold
its annual joint study session with the Architectural Review Board.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 22, in the
Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
BOARD OF EDUCATION ... The board will discuss and likely vote on
proposed cuts for the school districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2010-11 operating budget.
The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. in the board room of school district
headquarters (25 Churchill Ave.).
PALO ALTO PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION ... The commission is scheduled to elect a chair and vice chair for 2010; to
discuss the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s budget challenges and to consider topics for its
joint meeting with the City Council, which will be held in May; and to
hear an update on recreational opportunities for dog owners. The
meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23, in the Council
Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
PALO ALTO PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ...
The commission is scheduled to hold a study session to provide early
input in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Capital Improvement Program Plan for years 2011 to
2015; to discuss topics for its March 3 joint study session with the City
Council; and to discuss the Natural Environment chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. The meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 24, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL HIGH-SPEED-RAIL COMMITTEE ... The
committee is scheduled to continue its discussion of Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highspeed-rail project. The alternatives analysis for the San Franciscoto-San Jose segment of the high-speed-rail line is scheduled to be
released on March 4. The meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on
Thursday, Feb 25, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250
Hamilton Ave.).
PALO ALTO LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission is scheduled to elect a chair and a vice chair for 2010, to review
its 2010 goals and to prepare for the joint meetings with the City
Council. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25,
in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).
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The Special Policy and Services Committee Meeting will be
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Cover Story
Michelle Le
Michelle Le
Left, firefighters and Federal Aviation Administration officials surround the wreckage of the Cessna 310R
that crashed into an East Palo Alto neighborhood Wednesday morning. Above right, resident Bernice Turner
watches the fire department at work at the crash site.
Report on cause of crash
expected by early next week
Cessna 310R hit power line, tower and plummeted into
East Palo Alto neighborhood Wednesday
by Sue Dremann, Jay Thorwaldson and Tyler Hanley
8 a.m., flying on instruments due to
the dense fog blanketing the area.
Cessna 310Rs can travel between
80 and 100 mph during takeoff, according to one aviation source.
Veronica Weber
Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold
Schapelhouman speaks to the media during the investigation of the
Beech Street plane crash.
But something went wrong. The
plane failed to make a turn over the
bay as dictated by the Palo Alto Airport’s noise-abatement guidelines,
which suggest that pilots turn 10
degrees to the right in the direction
Page 10ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
of the Dumbarton Bridge.
Instead, the Cessna veered sharply left then hit a high-voltage power
line and 100-foot-tall steel transmission tower.
Several experienced pilots said
a sharp veering in a twin-engine
plane could indicate a power failure in one of the engines, but they
said they were not speculating on
Wednesday’s crash.
The top of the tower partially collapsed, severing several live wires
that fell to the ground.
“It was a serious situation,”
Schapelhouman said, noting the
danger to the emergency crews dispatched to the power line site.
One of the plane’s wings, loaded
with fuel for the flight to Hawthorne
Municipal Airport near Los Angeles, was severed by the impact with
either the power line or tower and
sailed several hundred feet into the
back end of a home that doubles as a
day care/preschool center on Beech
Street near Pulgas Avenue. Small
sections of the power line were
found embedded in the wing.
The wing burst into flames, setting the home on fire. A woman
feeding a baby in the day care center
ran out along with six others when
she saw flames engulfing the rear.
Veronica Weber
I
nvestigators into the fatal crash
of a Cessna twin-engine plane
in an East Palo Alto neighborhood Wednesday morning said that
there was no distress call from the
doomed aircraft, which sent a jolting wake-up call of debris and fire
shortly after takeoff into the sleepy
neighborhood.
The National Transportation
Safety Board is nearing completion
of its portion of the investigation,
spokesperson Josh Cawthra said
Thursday. The agency has located
all major parts of the Cessna 310R,
and remnants will be sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis.
The report is expected to be completed in five days, he said. Autopsies and toxicology tests will be performed, per standard procedure.
The aircraft’s first communication was with the air control tower;
its last recorded communication was
takeoff clearance, he said.
All three men aboard the plane
were killed, but no one on the
ground was injured, which Chief
Harold Schapelhouman of the
Menlo Park Fire Protection District
called “a miracle.”
He and others outlined the precise
sequence of the crash, starting when
the plane took off moments before
The small plane struck a PG&E tower, causing a day-long power outage
in Palo Alto.
The flames destroyed about half the
house, and water and smoke damage ruined the rest, Schapelhouman
reported.
Simultaneously, a portion of the
plane’s fuselage, its landing gear and
an engine crashed into the carport
next door, destroying it. The engine,
continuing to hurtle, then slammed
through the wall of the garage at a
third home, where it was found. A
vehicle in the carport was smashed,
officials reported.
The main fuselage, with the plane’s
occupants, continued another block,
where it ran into a home’s front retaining wall, collided with a BMW
and set fire to three parked vehicles,
including a motorhome, and the front
of the house next door.
The fuselage finally came to rest
in front of a driveway and then ex-
ploded. All that was left after firefighters put out the blaze was a twofoot-tall heap of aluminum metal.
Cawthra said the debris from the
aircraft was strewn along 1,200
feet of Beech Street. Schapelhouman said in the 29 years he has
worked with the fire district there
has never been a plane impacting a
residential area, although a number
of crashes occurred in the marshlands, the bay or San Francisquito
Creek over the years.
“This is one of the more significant crashes I’ve seen,” he said.
A few residents in the neighborhood who heard the crash and called
911 said the dense morning fog
made it difficult for them to know
exactly which street — Garden or
Beech — to direct emergency personnel to, causing some delays. N
Cover Story
Airport worries East Palo Alto residents,
but pilots defend track record
Plane crash was first to involve a structure in at least three decades
by Jocelyn Dong, Sue Dremann and Martin Sanchez
W
ednesday’s crash of a
Cessna 310R in East Palo
Alto has renewed concerns
about the dangers of a municipal
airport located close to a densely
populated neighborhood.
For the Palo Alto Airport, the fatal incident comes at a time when
the future of the 75-year-old municipal facility is under consideration.
The City Council Finance Committee is scheduled on March 2 to
discuss the new business plan for
the airport. Santa Clara County currently operates the airport under a
50-year-lease with Palo Alto that is
scheduled to expire in 2017.
County officials have indicated
in recent years that they would not
renew the lease once it expires. The
Palo Alto City Council and city
residents have been debating over
the past two years whether the city
should try to take over airport operations before the lease expires.
At the same time, some have
called for a portion of airport land
to house a new composting facility
— a proposal that has met resistance
from local aviators.
After Wednesday’s crash, some
area residents said they wouldn’t
mind seeing the airport gone.
“They should do away with the
Palo Alto Airport. We know accidents happen. They need to fly over
another neighborhood,” said Pamela
Housten, who works for Eppie’s Preschool in the 1200 block of Beech
Street. She escaped from the school,
which is located in a home, after it
was struck by a sheared-off plane
wing and caught fire.
Albertstine Pride has lived in the
neighborhood since 1959. The aircraft fuselage plowed into her driveway Wednesday.
She and her daughter have talked
about the planes from Palo Alto
Airport many times.
“They fly too low for comfort,”
she said. “But I live with it.
“This is a rude awakening.”
Benita Brown, another longtime
resident of the Gardens neighborhood, heard two loud “booms”
when the plane crashed. From her
window, she saw an explosion.
Airplanes from Palo Alto Airport
“used to scare me. When we added
onto the house (by building the second story), you could hear the puttputt of the plane and look out the
window and see the people in it.”
But she said that “planes seem to
fly higher than they used to.”
Ralph Britton, co-chair of the Palo
Alto Airport Association, defended
the municipal airport.
“The airport’s safety record is really quite good,” he said. “This is
certainly the first time that a plane
(from the Palo Alto Airport) has
crashed into a structure.”
“I’m sure that there will be political repercussions from this,” Britton
said. “For years, some people have
been against the airport, and I’m
sure they will try to take advantage
of this.”
Standard procedures call for all
planes to turn to the right a mile out
from the airport, so they fly over the
bay. The Cessna veered to the left,
off the flight path, he noted.
But about half of the planes that
fly out of Palo Alto Airport do not
follow this rule and fly straight to-
wards the Dumbarton Bridge after
taking off, according to an experienced local pilot who asked to remain anonymous.
Still, the area of East Palo Alto
that this alternate route passes over
is well north of the crash site and
should not factor into questions
about yesterday’s crash, the pilot
said.
Another aviator, Richard Alexander, also supported the facility’s
track record.
“The airport’s been there 60 years
or so, and no one’s ever hit the power lines,” said Alexander, who has
flown out of the airport hundreds of
times.
Within the past seven or eight
years, a homemade plane tipped into
the Palo Alto duck pond and the pilot drowned, Britton recalled.
Harold Schapelhouman, fire chief
of the Menlo Park Fire Protection
District, said this is the first time a
plane has crashed into a residential
neighborhood in his 29 years with
the district.
There have been other crashes
into San Francisquito Creek, the bay
and the marshes, he said.
“This is one of the more significant
crashes,” Schapelhouman said. N
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Pilot had plenty of
experience, friends say
Three Tesla Motors employees killed
in East Palo Alto crash Wednesday
by Sue Dremann, Jocelyn Dong,
Gennady Sheyner and Chris Kenrick
D
oug Bourn, 56, is being described as a “very thorough
pilot” who had thousands of
hours of flight experience, according to longtime friend Elizabeth
Houck, who once flew with him in
the same Cessna twin-engine plane
that crashed Wednesday into an
East Palo Alto neighborhood.
“He was very comfortable behind
the wheel,” she said. “He knew motors, engines, air and oil.”
She was “extremely comfortable”
flying with him, she added.
Tesla Motors of Palo Alto confirmed Wednesday that three of its
employees were killed in a smallplane crash in East Palo Alto.
“Tesla is a small, tightly knit company, and this is a tragic day for us,”
said Elon Musk, CEO of the electric-vehicle manufacturer.
He declined to name the employ-
ees, saying that the company was
working with authorities to notify
the families.
“Our thoughts and prayers are
with them,” Musk said.
Sources close to the company identified the three men as Bourn, a senior
electrical engineer and Santa Clara
resident; Andrew Ingram of Palo
Alto, an engineer; and Brian Finn of
East Palo Alto, a senior manager.
Houck considered Bourn a good
friend, calling him “an outdoor adventureman with a zest for life. ...
He was a real life enthusiast.”
Bourn also was beloved by members of the robotics team at Castilleja School, where he had volunteered
as a mentor for the past six years.
“My daughter is studying what
she’s studying in college because
(continued on page 12)
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 11
Cover Story
Tracking a tragedy
Pulgas Ave
The plane’s engine continues to
travel, slamming into an adjacent
garage at 1203 Beech.
Cypress St
Beech St
Vance Ln
Baylands Nature
Preserve
Shorebreeze Ct
Plane’s landing gear, engine
and part of the fuselage slam
into a carport at 1215 Beech,
collapsing the structure on top
of at least one car.
Palo Alto
Municipal
Golf Course
Palo Alto
Airport
l
of the commitment of people like
Doug,” Castilleja parent Beth
O’Malley said Thursday.
O’Malley said Bourn had offered
to take her and her husband flying
several times, although they never
went.
“I always felt like if there was
anybody I would trust (flying) it
would be Doug,” she said.
Bourn even traveled with the
Castilleja team to robotics competitions.
“He really forced the girls to take
the time to understand the physics of
the problem, and he gave the girls a
lot of room to fail — to learn and to
fail,” O’Malley said.
“He didn’t stand there and tell
them how to do it. He’d make suggestions, but ultimately it was their
decision how to build the robot and
how they would enter the competition.”
flight instructor ratings, according
to a biography posted on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers website before a talk he gave
in 2007. The bio noted he enjoyed
“motorcycling, skydiving, flying,
and teaching others how to fly.”
Bourn graduated from Stanford
University with a bachelor’s degree
in electrical engineering. He worked
for IDEO of Palo Alto as a senior
engineer from 1995 to 2005, his former employer confirmed.
Finn had worked for Tesla for a
year and eight months, according
to his profile on LinkedIn.com. He
received his bachelor’s and master’s
degrees from Northern Illinois University in 1990 and 1992, respectively. He previously worked for
Volkswagen Electronics and Volkswagen of America.
He enjoyed gardening, cycling,
skiing and playing the guitar, his
profile stated.
Ingram, a 2001 Harvey Mudd
College graduate, previously worked
for Dolby Laboratories and Christie,
Parker and Hale. N
Veronica Weber
From left, Jamar Gaddis, Daron Meacham and Gracie Gaddis watch from their home as police and firefighters attend to the nearby crash site.
Page 12ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
Veronica Weber
(continued from page 11)
Bourn enjoyed motorcycles and
was a member of a beer club. He
would often go to Devil’s Canyon
Brewery in Belmont on the last Friday of each month with co-workers,
Houck said.
“It’s really sad for Tesla. He was
instrumental in getting the Roadster
out the door” and was developing
the Model S, she said.
A highly detail-oriented engineer,
he worked on batteries and electrical systems for the company.
Vicky Tuite, a friend and former
colleague at Tesla, said Bourn had
come to her birthday party last
month.
“He was a great guy,” Tuite said,
adding that he worked on the first
powertrain for the Tesla Roadster.
“He was one of the original handful of people to work for Tesla,” she
said.
Tuite, whose husband is an amateur pilot, said she would not have
hesitated to fly with Bourn.
Bourn held commercial pilot,
instrument, multi-engine, ground
instructor and single/multi-engine
Shannon Corey
i
Bay Tr a
Pilot
Above, a wing of the plane landed in a day care center, with wires from
the high-voltage transmission line embedded in it. Below, Juan Carlos
Ramirez, left, and Benita Brown, center, watch investigators.
Plane wing falls into rear of home at 1225
Beech St., East Palo Alto, narrowly missing an
adjacent daycare center on the property. Fuel
explodes, setting bedrooms and living room
on fire. Seven people, including an infant,
escape unharmed.
ancisco
San Fr
The remaining fuselage with three persons
hits the street and skids down the sidewalk,
ricocheting off a retaining wall in front of
1180 Beech and slams into a BMW in the
driveway, pushing it into a neighboring
fence at 1172 Beech. Fuselage and three
additional cars catch fire. Front of the
home at 1180 is engulfed in flames after
shrubbery between the two residences
catches fire.
Sue Dremann
Plane impacts highpower electrical lines
and 80- to-100-foot
transmission tower.
Plane takes off
from runway
31 at Palo Alto
Airport heading to
Hawthorne, Calif.
with a pilot and
two passengers
from Tesla Motors.
Plane turns or veers
left over Palo Alto
Baylands Nature
Preserve.
Organizations to help residents
in aftermath of crash
Nonprofits seek to heal mental, financial wounds
of those impacted by plane disaster
by Sue Dremann
L
ocal organizations are stepping forward to help East Palo
Altans who are struggling after Wednesday’s plane crash into a
residential neighborhood.
The commute-hours crash, in
which a Cessna 310R slammed into
high-powered electrical lines along
San Francisquito Creek and broke
up over the 1100 and 1200 blocks of
Beech Street, damaged four homes
and several vehicles.
Three engineers from Tesla Motors, Inc. died in the crash but no
residents were injured, according to
fire and police authorities.
Some residents were left homeless
and others were evacuated. At least
two families lost their livelihood,
family members said.
Shortly after the accident an
American Red Cross Bay Area
Chapter team opened a shelter at the
East Palo Alto YMCA to prepare for
a possible evacuation of the entire
block, according to spokeswoman
Melanie Finke.
By evening, an emergency vehicle
was still available on Beech to assist residents in crisis and volunteers
found housing for an evacuated family, she said.
Volunteer counselors also helped
residents, many of whom felt a great
deal of uncertainty after the crash, she
said. Neighbors said an 80-year-old
woman fainted after the fiery plane
plummeted from the sky, thinking
the end of the world had come.
And the owner of a day care facility whose adjacent home was
destroyed was taken by ambulance
to the hospital for treatment of high
blood pressure.
Residents’ nerves were again rattled at about 4 or 5 a.m. on Thursday, after one of the burned and
damaged vehicles again caught fire,
they said.
“Even if it doesn’t affect them
physically, it affects them mentally,”
resident Joy Wright said.
Witnesses to the crash, some of
whom saw the fiery wreckage and
bodies of the men who died, will not
soon forget what they saw.
“There was fire everywhere,” said
Benita Brown, who was at home
when she heard the first “boom” and
ran to her window, only to see the
plane explode. “The house shook. It
felt like an earthquake.”
Volunteers from Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that
builds affordable homes for needy
families, arrived at the crash site
around 1 p.m. Wednesday to check
on several homes the group has built
on Beech. The Greater San Francisco chapter built its first home on the
(continued on page 16)
Cover Story
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Tickets online at WBOpera.org
Plane crash takes life
of Castilleja mentor
Der Freischütz
Carl Maria von Weber
Doug Bourn helped students learn robotics
in German, with English titles
by Chris Kenrick
‘Oh, I just happen to have that at
home.’
“And he was always an advocate
of having the right tool at the right
time. Sometimes we would kind
of sketchily put together stuff with
duct tape and he would say, ‘No, you
need to plan this out and have the
right tools,’” Mukherjee said.
An electrical engineer, Bourn
began volunteering at Castilleja six
years ago, initially on the electronics side of the team. But soon, he
was helping both with the mechanical “build” side as well as the electronics.
“He knew a lot about coding and
he could always help us fix our sensors,” senior Caroline Abbott said.
“We would literally have plumes
of smoke and Doug could fix it,”
said team captain Sherri Billimoria. “And he would show us how to
avoid that mistake in the future.”
Like high school robotics teams
elsewhere, the Castilleja students
are preparing for the 2010 FIRST
Robotics Competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Courtesy of Castilleja School.
D
oug Bourn spent Tuesday evening the way he spent many
evenings: in a basement at
Castilleja School, helping members
of the robotics team prepare for an
upcoming competition.
Telling the girls he had to fly to
Los Angeles Wednesday morning
and probably would stop in the next
night, he left at 8 p.m., earlier than
usual. He told them he was excited
about his trip.
On Thursday, while other Castilleja students enjoyed their winter
break, a half-dozen members of the
school’s “Gatorbotics” team worked
to complete their robot for an upcoming Portland, Ore., competition
and reminisced about their mentor,
who died Wednesday morning when
the plane he was piloting crashed.
“He came by whenever he could
— he said it was a way for him to
relax,” said team member Nandini
Mukherjee, a Castilleja senior, who
plans to study mechanical engineering.
“He was extremely generous. If
we needed something he would say,
Doug Bourn assists a Castilleja
School robotics-team member.
Bourn volunteered with the team
for six years.
Technology).
In a six-week time period, students must design and build a 120pound robot that can drive a soccer
ball over bumps and later lift itself
on a tower to a height of 7 feet.
Bourn often traveled with the Castilleja team to the competitions.
“He made the time,” said Castilleja parent Beth O’Malley, who
said she sat with Bourn at many of
the competitive events. Her daughter
Erin, now studying biotechnology at
Rice University, was a member of
the team through high school. N
Cheers and relief greet return of power
Palo Alto businesses and homes survive daylong outage with a greater
appreciation for light switches and live plugs
by Gennady Sheyner and Palo Alto Weekly staff
T
here were cheers and relief in
many Palo Alto homes and
businesses late Wednesday
afternoon when electric power
surged back shortly before and after 6 p.m.
PG&E informed city officials at
about 5:45 p.m. that it had power
back to a transfer substation at the
city limits after nearly 10 hours of
blackout.
City Utilities Department employees then restored power within
30 minutes to the estimated 28,000
customers left without electricity
due to a small plane that severed
main transmission lines serving
Palo Alto.
Contrary to earlier reports that a
larger area was impacted, the outage
affected just Palo Alto, officials said.
PG&E crews struggled all day
to restore power, finally erecting
temporary power poles in the late
afternoon.
Most city facilities, including City
Hall and the Police Department, lost
power, though police had limited
power through a generator. City officials had also activated an Emergency Operations Center to oversee
the response to the power outage,
which included increased traffic
patrols. Most of the city’s traffic
lights either lost power or flashed
red throughout the day, but there
was no surge in accidents beyond
the eight to 10 reported on a rainy
day, police reported.
Police Chief Dennis Burns said
there were simply too many intersections to staff them with officers to do
traffic control, and they were needed
for regular patrol duties and to deal
with situations relating to the outage.
He said the state Vehicle Code is
specific on power-outages at signalized intersections and says that motorists should treat it as a four-way
stop intersection.
He said in the first hour of the
blackout there were 220 9-1-1 calls,
a number of which needed specific
police responses.
“We had to pick and choose” how
to use the 14 or 15 officers on duty,
he said.
Also, he said a worst-case possibility was that the outage could last
24 hours, which added to the challenge of staffing intersections.
Mayor Pat Burt said city workers
from the Utilities, Public Works,
Police and Fire departments all
took part in the city’s emergency
response following the outage.
The transmission tower is located
west of Palo Alto Airport and includes three transmission lines that
carry power to Palo Alto, said Joe
Molica, PG&E spokesman. The
plane damaged both a tower and the
lines.
Molica said no PG&E customers
lost power as a result of the crash.
A small pocket of residents in East
Palo Alto, near the crash site, also
lost power.
PG&E workers installed two
wooden transmission poles on
Cypress Road in East Palo Alto
Wednesday afternoon, he said.
Molica said once the new line is
installed the company would focus
on repairing the damaged lines and
creating redundancies in the power
system.
The city repeatedly asked residents to conserve water because of
the outage affecting pumps. But that
warning was precautionary, according to Linda Clerkson, the city’s information officer.
The city’s Utilities Department
said it has backup generators for its
four pump stations that lift water to
reservoirs in the hills for the gravityfed system.
“Because we did not know for sure
how long the citywide power outage
would last, we urged water conservation to minimize strain on water
storage and the backup generators
on the pump stations,” according to
a department statement.
In addition, reducing water use also
cuts flow to the wastewater treatment
plant, “which reduces strain on the
system operating under backup generation,” the statement said.
To community questions about
pumps to prevent flooding, the city’s
Public Works Department said major improvements have been made
since the big flood of 1998, funded
by a storm drain fee approved by
voters. All four major storm-water
pumping stations have back-up generators that start automatically when
needed: at the Palo Alto Airport and
at Matadero, Adobe and San Francisquito creeks.
Four minor pumping stations
have receptacles for portable generators when needed, the department said. N
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NOTICE OF VACANCY ON THE LIBRARY
ADVISORY COMMISSION
FOR ONE UNEXPIRED TERM ENDING
JANUARY 31, 2011
(Term of Mashruwala)
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council is seeking applications for
the Library Advisory Commission from persons interested in serving in one
unexpired term ending January 31, 2011.
Eligibility Requirements: The Library Advisory Commission is composed of
seven members who shall be appointed by and shall serve at the pleasure
of the City Council, but who shall not be Council Members, ofﬁcers or
employees of the City of Palo Alto. Each member of the Commission shall
have a demonstrated interest in public library matters. All members of the
Commission shall at all times be residents of the City of Palo Alto. Regular
meetings will be held at 7 p.m. on the fourth Thursday the month, at least one
month per quarter.
Purpose and Duties: The purpose of the Library Advisory Commission shall
be to advise the City Council on matters relating to the Palo Alto City Library,
excluding daily administrative operations. The Commission shall have the
following duties:
1.
Advise the City Council on planning and policy matters pertaining to:
a) the goals of and the services provided by the Palo Alto City Library;
b) the future delivery of the services by the Palo Alto City Library; c) the
City Manager’s recommendations pertaining to the disposition of major
gifts of money, personal property and real property to the City to be
used for library purposes; d) the construction and renovation of capital
facilities of the Palo Alto City Library; and e) joint action projects with
other public or private information entities, including libraries.
2.
Review state legislative proposals that may affect the operation of the
Palo Alto City Library.
3.
Review the City Manager’s proposed budget for capital improvements
and operations relating to the Palo Alto City Library, and thereafter
forward any comments to one or more of the applicable committees of
the Council.
4.
Provide advice upon such other matters as the City Council may from
time to time assign.
5.
Receive community input concerning the Palo Alto City Library.
6.
Review and comment on fund-raising efforts on behalf of the Palo Alto
City Library.
The Library Advisory Commission shall not have the power or authority to
cause the expenditure of City funds or to bind the City to any written or implied
contract.
Appointment information and application forms are available in the City Clerk‘s
Ofﬁce, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto (Phone: 650-329-2571) or may be
obtained on the website at http://www.cityofpaloalto.org.
Deadline for receipt of applications in the City Clerk‘s Ofﬁce is 5:30 p.m.,
Monday, March 8, 2010.
PALO ALTO RESIDENCY IS A REQUIREMENT
DONNA J. GRIDER
City Clerk
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 13
A community health education series from Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Surgery Can Be
Effective Tool in Fight
Against Weight
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I felt hostage to it,â&#x20AC;? Rabbi Ezray said,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;and powerless in the face of it, even
though I did diet after diet.â&#x20AC;?
He had tried to keep fit, jogging and
playing racquetball. But his body was
breaking down. He developed sleeping
problems, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, acid reflux and diabetesâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;
all issues very common in people who
are seriously overweight. Still, while
he would often lose the extra pounds,
he would regain them.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I felt powerless in the face of it,
even though I did diet after diet.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Rabbi Nat Ezray, bariatric surgery patient
at Stanford Hospital & Clinics
In 2002, when he was just 42, he had
a heart attack. His cardiologist told
him, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re one of the brightest, most
motivated people Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met, but I just
donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think you can lose this weight on
your own.â&#x20AC;?
Rabbi Ezray fit a profile shared by
many. His face-off with weight was
years long and, in spite of his best efforts, the weight he lost always came
back. In recent years, as the rabbi of
Congregation Beth Jacob, Ezray was
managing a demanding schedule that
wholly filled his days.
Still, Rabbi Ezray tried, even after
doctors inserted stents in his heart to
open up blocked arteries. For a second
time, he tried a liquid diet. He continued to see a counselor to talk about the
role of food in his emotional life. And,
finally, he investigated a suggestion
his cardiologist had made years earlier to have his gastrointestinal system
surgically altered.
Page 14Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x2122;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ¤Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;
A physician friend recommended Rabbi
Ezray see John Morton, MD, MPH, director of bariatric surgery at Stanford
Hospital & Clinics. Bariatrics, from a
Greek word meaning weight, refers to
the study, prevention and treatment
of obesity. Mortonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s treatment and research focus also includes minimally
invasive surgery and quality. His interest in weight and its health impacts
dates back to high school, when he saw
what many pounds of extra weight did
to his best friend.
Not a quick fix
What Morton tells anyone interested
in gastric surgery is that it is â&#x20AC;&#x153;no magic bulletâ&#x20AC;ŚWe canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t operate our way out
of the obesity problem. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part and
parcel of a lifestyle change. These surgeries are simply tools.â&#x20AC;? At Stanford,
Morton said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to shoehorn anybody into a specific operation.
You have to take into consideration the
risks and benefits.â&#x20AC;?
When prospective patients come to
Stanford to discuss bariatric surgery,
they face a set of hurdles designed to
test their motivation and discipline.
They must attend an information seminar to learn about the surgery and
the most successful methods to reach
and maintain their weight loss goals.
They must be evaluated by a psychologist and a nutritionist. They are also
required to lose 10 percent of their
weight before surgery.
Norbert von der Groeben
Rabbi Nat Ezrayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decades of struggle
with weight began early. He joined
Weight Watchers in the fifth grade.
In the 30 years to come, he would lose
and gain weight several times over,
each time gaining a bit more until his
5 foot 6 inch frame carried 280 pounds.
Stanford also follows the bariatric surgery guidelines established by the U.S.
National Institutes of Health. That
organization recommends surgery for
people with a body mass index (BMI)
of 40 or more and for people with a
BMI of 35 who also have serious health
issues related to their weight like Type
2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
BMI is a way of comparing height to
weight. Clinical guidelines set out a
BMI of 25 to 29 as overweight. Anything over that is considered obesity.
Someone who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and
weighs 204 pounds (BMI 35) will be a
candidate for surgery if those obesityrelated health issues are present.
Weight is not the only measure. It also
matters where it is. Abdominal fat has
the most negative impact on overall
health.
Rabbi Ezray was also concerned about
the risks of surgery. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I did all the
research,â&#x20AC;? he said. He learned that
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bariatric Surgery program
is the only one in Northern California
recognized by the American College of
Surgeons as a Level 1A Center for Excellence. Morton has performed more
than 1,000 bariatric surgeries, with
no serious post-surgical complications.
Those complications can often happen,
Morton told Rabbi Ezray, â&#x20AC;&#x153;because patients havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been properly screened
or prepared.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t operate our way out of
the obesity problem. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part and
parcel of a lifestyle change.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; John Morton, MD, MPH, Director, Bariatric
Surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics
Morton has also made it a priority
to keep his clinical team together, to
build the collective experience. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The
more cases you do, the better you are,â&#x20AC;?
he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have also researched
'
'
&
special feature
Are you a candidate for bariatric surgery?
Putting your health at risk
You might beâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if you have:
You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be obese to have extra weight trigger changes that can
threaten your healthâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a BMI of 25, or 10 percent over ideal body weight,
can be enough for some people, depending on family history. The more
overweight you are, the more you raise your risk of harm.
a body mass index of 35 or above and have weight-related health
issues including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea,
depression, arthritis, low back pain, stress incontinence, acid reflux,
degenerative joint disease or high cholesterol and triglyceride levels
Side effects include:
a BMI of 40
Type 2 diabetesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;can cause heart and kidney disease, nerve damage
and stroke
a history of dieting, with weight loss followed by weight gain; and
weight restricting your activity
high blood pressureâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;increases risk of stroke and heart disease
The Stanford Bariatric Surgery program requires all its patients to lose 10
percent of their weight before surgery to make certain patients have the
ability to follow the continuing diet and exercise that is key to successful
maintenance of their weight loss. Patients must also have a psychological
evaluation.
osteoarthritis in hips and knees
sleep apnea and breathing limitation
higher risk of certain cancers
For more information on obesity and weight loss surgery, visit stanfordhospital.org/weightloss
reversible. The weight loss associated
with those surgeries is less.
Norbert von der Groeben
!"""$
(
where problems can occur and created
protocols to prevent those. For us, patient safety is first.â&#x20AC;?
About 70 percent of the bariatric
surgeries at Stanford are the gastric
bypass. After considering his options,
Rabbi Ezray chose that one. Even
before the surgery, however, he had
examined what his prior stumbling
blocks were and figured out how to address them. One thing he did, he said,
was to approach food mindfully, â&#x20AC;&#x153;to sit
down when I eat and really value it. I
loved that the surgery would slow me
down and I would appreciate taste and
texture.â&#x20AC;?
He would also make his exercise time
as high a priority as possible, â&#x20AC;&#x153;part of
a true devotion to health being first on
my list,â&#x20AC;? he said.
Choices to be made
One of the most frequently performed
bariatric surgeries, the gastric bypass,
first appeared in the mid-1960s. Now
surgeons, staple off all but a small portion of the stomach and connect that
directly to the intestines. That reduces
caloric absorption and reduces exposure to hormones physicians suspect
influences appetite and blood sugar.
Rabbi Ezray wants to lose a few more
pounds, but otherwise, he could not be
happier. The people who helped him at
Stanford â&#x20AC;&#x153;were very kind and compassionate,â&#x20AC;? he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to hold on to the fear
that I was going to die young.
I feel like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been given a second
chance.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Rabbi Nat Ezray, bariatric surgery patient
at Stanford Hospital & Clinics
He is still not eating certain foods: no
red meat or ice cream or alcohol, and
almost no processed foods. He rises
early several days a week to stretch
and do 45 minutes on his elliptical
exercise machine; frequently he adds
weight training to develop his core
muscles.
And now, as he talks with people in his
congregation, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll often be walking
with him. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had a lot of energy before,
but boy, do I have a lot of energy now!â&#x20AC;?
Rabbi Ezray said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize how
much energy it took to fight the daily
fight with food.â&#x20AC;?
His congregation gave him great support when he told them about his surgery, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t realize how much
anxiety people felt about my health.â&#x20AC;?
And he has realized something else. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I
donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to hold on to the fear that I
was going to die young,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I feel
like Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been given a second chance.â&#x20AC;?
The bypass has shown to have the
most immediate effect. Other approaches reduce the stomachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s size but
do not involve the intestine, and are
A life renewed
Stanford has a comprehensive after
care program. After surgery, patients
are seen five times for check-ups in
their first year, and then annually.
The Bariatric Surgery program also
organizes a support group for patients
to see them through the changes in
their lives.
Norbert von der Groeben
He was home about four days after the
surgery and recovered quickly, he said.
Also quickly, his high blood pressure
and cholesterol levels dropped so he
didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to take as much medication. He no longer needs any diabetes
medication. The positive impact on
Type 2 diabetes of surgery-assisted
weight loss was first documented in
the 1990s.
#
'
&
%
Norbert von der Groeben
Stanford Hospital & Clinics is known worldwide for advanced treatment of complex disorders
in areas such as cardiovascular care, cancer treatment, neurosciences, surgery, and organ
transplants. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the U.S. News & World Report
annual list of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Best Hospitals,â&#x20AC;? Stanford Hospital & Clinics is internationally
recognized for translating medical breakthroughs into the care of patients. It is part of the
Stanford University Medical Center, along with the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital at
Stanford. For more information, visit stanfordmedicine.org.
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x2122;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ¤Ă&#x160;U Page 15
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street in 1989, according to spokeswoman Jennifer Doettling.
Doettling said one home previously built by Habitat was damaged. The organization had not yet
reached the owner of that home to
determine if it can help with any repairs, she said.
David Foley, director of 2nd
Mile, a Menlo Park faith-based
nonprofit that has renovated homes
and schools in East Menlo Park
and East Palo Alto, such as Cesar
Chavez Academy, Ronald McNair
Academy, James Flood School and
Willow Oaks Elementary School,
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arrived on Thursday morning to
assess the damage to four homes.
Foley could not gain entry to the
secured area but said after police
allow access he would return.
Two homes on Beech were renovated by the organization, including
the YoungLife house and another
home that houses struggling young
women with children, he said.
Foley said he wanted to see about
renovating the home of Lisa Jones,
the preschool owner.
Fifty percent of the home was
burned after the planeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wing
crashed into it and exploded. The
rest of the home was water- and
smoke-damaged â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a total loss, according to Menlo Park Fire District
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Chief Harold Schapelhouman.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were going to renovate
Brentwood Elementary School as
our April project but we heard about
the loss of homes here and said, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We
have to switch,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? he said.
Foley said the group receives its
funding from private donations, many
of whom live â&#x20AC;&#x153;up on the hill.â&#x20AC;? Engaging with the East Palo Alto community has opened many volunteersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and
donorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; eyes and hearts, he said.
One victim of the crash who
walked away was feeding his baby
when the plane careened into a retaining wall and crashed in front of
his rental home, he said. Juan Carlos
Ramirez said he ran into the backyard with his wife and child.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was scared. I thought the house
blew up,â&#x20AC;? he said. But Ramirez worried that he might face more than
temporary evacuation from his rental home. Both of the familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trucks
were burned in the crash, he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;My dad makes the rent payments.
He picks up scrap metal to make the
rent payments,â&#x20AC;? he said.
On Wednesday he was searching
for answers about who would pay
to replace the trucks. The family
could not afford insurance on the
vehicles, he said.
As the afternoon wore on, he
looked on helplessly as emergency
crews and aviation officials investigated the scene.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re getting hungry. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no
place like home, you know.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann can
be e-mailed at sdremann@paweekly.com.
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Transitions
Deaths
John Berwald
John Joseph Berwald, a Palo
Alto resident for 55 years, former
Palo Alto City
Council member and retired
Standard Oil
administrator,
died Feb. 9
following five
years of declining health
relating to Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disease. He was 92.
He and his wife of 66 years, Genevieve, moved to Palo Alto in 1954,
where they raised their six children
and became active members of the
Catholic Church.
He joined Standard Oil in 1939 as
a part-time service-station salesman
in North Hollywood. When he retired from Standard Oil in 1984 he
was senior adviser for public policy.
Following their marriage, the
Berwalds moved 11 times in the
following decade as he followed job
assignments with Standard Oil.
He served on the Palo Alto council
during the turbulent decade of 1967
to 1977, when there were a series of
counterculture demonstrations in
downtown Palo Alto and residents
struggled over the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policy toward growth versus slow growth.
He in the late 1960s proposed that
an â&#x20AC;&#x153;environmental design studyâ&#x20AC;? be
done on the Palo Alto foothills region, from west of U.S. Highway
280 to Skyline Ridge.
The study evolved from seeking
ways to create environmentally sensitive low-density housing, as he envisioned it, into one that concluded
it would be cheaper for the city to
acquire foothills lands than to allow them to be developed due to the
cost of infrastructure, services and
schools compared to tax returns
from the area.
He also served on the board of
the Senior Coordinating Council of
the Midpeninsula Area, Inc. (now
Avenidas) and was a member of the
Knights of Columbus.
In retirement, his energies extended far beyond the Palo Alto
borders.
In 1979, he co-founded and became the first president of the nonprofit organization, Rescue Now
International (RNI).
He is survived by Genevieve and
their six children: Patricia Berwald-Jones, Janette Aljian, John
R. (Suzanne), Michael (Allison),
Matthew (Carla) and Mary; and by
eight grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Association.
Joseph Lewis
Joseph F. Lewis, 85, a former resident of Palo Alto, died Jan. 14.
A second-generation San Franciscan, he was born June 13, 1924, the
eldest son of Bucey and Josephine
(Cama) Lewis. He was a graduate
of St. Ignatius and S.F. Junior Col-
;]c\bOW\DWSe1S\bS`T]`bVS
>S`T]`[W\U/`ba
lege (serving as class president his
freshman and sophomore years.)
During WW II, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and, after his
discharge, earned his college degree
from U.C. Berkeley.
He received his law degree from
Hastings College of the Law and
practiced for three decades primarily in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto in the
firms; Lewis, Scher and Fernandez,
Lewis and Fonnesbeck and Lewis
and Fortune. He tried a number of
high-profile cases and volunteered
his time in support of civil rights
causes and political issues.
In 1962, he ran unsuccessfully for
the Democratic nomination for the
State Senate seat serving Sunnyvale and San Jose. He served on the
Democratic Central Committee of
Santa Clara County for more than
a decade.
In the mid-1960s, he opened the
Whisky A Go Go nightclub, which
later became Wayne Manor, and
helped revitalize downtown Sunnyvale. The latter, a Batman-themed
rock club, was featured in Life Magazine as he lobbied the Sunnyvale
town council to change the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
name to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gotham City.â&#x20AC;? Both clubs
featured nationally known artists
including Sly and the Family Stone,
Johnny Rivers and the Platters.
He lived in Palo Alto for more
than 40 years and spent his later
years in San Francisco where he
managed a variety of investments
and developed real estate in Grass
Valley.
He is survived by his four children
from his first marriage to Sue Simanton: Todd, Shaun (Egbert), Garth
and Scott Lewis; younger brother
Jack; his wife of 11 years Margaret
Boddie Lewis; eight grandchildren;
former wife Fereshteh Khodadad;
and many relatives and friends.
There will be a memorial celebration Sunday, Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. at
the Stanford Park Hotel.
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Genuinely upbeat, infectious enthusiasm.
Deliciousâ&#x20AC;Ś irrepressibleâ&#x20AC;Ś BETTER THAN EVER!â&#x20AC;?
- San Francisco Chronicle
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Richard Allen Berry, loving husband
of Jenifer, father of Johnnie and Tommy,
precious son of Brenda and Gene, stepson of Micki, brother of Julie and her
husband Marc, and Chihuahuas, Lucy
and Trixie, is now at peace.
Born and raised in Palo Alto, he
graduated from Gunn High school in
1983. He was employed 30 years at Hammon Plating.
In lieu of ďŹ&#x201A;owers, donations may be made to SPCA.
PA I D
O B I T UA RY
%$5)./ 3),6%)2! -%.%:%3
At rest peacefully surrounded by his family, Sunday, Feb.
14, 2010. 89 years. Beloved husband of Silvina Menezes
of 56 years, loving father of Manuel (Stephanie) Menezes,
adored grandfather of Nicholas (Serena) Menezes, and Monica
(Daniel) Garza. Also survived by numerous nieces, nephews,
and many friends. A longtime proud and active member of the
Portuguese community and I.F.E.S-LUSO of Mtn .View. Eduino
will be missed everyday and will still be guiding us through our
hearts. We love you forever.
Visitations will begin on Sun. Feb. 21, 2010, at 2:00 P.M.
with a Vigil Service at 7:00 P.M. at Cusimano Family Colonial
Mortuary, 96 W. El Camino Real, Mtn.View. A Funeral Mass
will be held on Mon., Feb. 22, at 11:00 A.M. at St. Athanasius
Church, 160 N. Rengstorff Ave. Mtn.View. Entombment
following at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, 490 Lincoln Ave.
Santa Clara.
Please sign the guestbook at: cusimanocolonial.com
PA I D
OBITUARY
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Editorial
Tragedy is reminder
of our vulnerability
Emergency response to plane crash and power outage
shows great improvement over past incidents,
but more needs to be done
F
rom East Palo Alto residents knocking on neighbors’ doors near
the site of the plane crash to Palo Alto efforts to keep the public
informed in a timely manner, the response to Wednesday morning’s
tragic plane crash was superb.
But there were serious shortcomings as well.
Hundreds of Palo Alto residents and employees became “Internet
refugees” jamming Menlo Park and Mountain View restaurants
and coffee-shop Wi-Fi sites. Companies, stores and restaurants shut
down or operated on makeshift generator setups.
PG&E crews made what a PG&E spokesman correctly called
“Herculean efforts” to restore power to Palo Alto and came within
minutes of meeting its 5:30 p.m. target.
City officials met in the city’s Emergency Operations Center and
received hourly reports from department heads, including critiques
of shortcomings and areas needing improvement.
Schools stayed open but teachers reverted to old-fashioned
whiteboards and squeaky pens rather than the now-powerless
“smartboards.”
News websites, including the Weekly’s www.PaloAltoOnline.com
site, were jammed with people seeking news about the outage, as
was Palo Alto’s city website, www.CityofPaloAlto.org. The Weekly
resorted to Twitter bulletins about what was going on. East Palo
Alto police used the city’s new dial-up telephone-alert system to
inform residents there about the crash.
Beyond the tragedy of the three Tesla employees who died, the
fact that no East Palo Alto residents were killed or injured was in
fact miraculous. Federal investigators have begun probing what may
have caused or contributed to the crash.
But in Palo Alto attention quickly turned to the future, with a
renewed realization that the community is highly vulnerable to
emergency situations. And there are many questions.
It is ironic that a community that prides itself in being a world
leader in electronic-communications technology suddenly slammed
to a virtual halt, while communities around it continued life as
usual, with the exception of the shock and relief in East Palo Alto.
The power loss also comes just a week before a major community
meeting in Palo Alto on “emergency preparedness.” It comes at a
time when there are serious discussions with the city administration
of unifying the police, fire, utilities and public works emergencyresponse operations — a long-overdue move that should improve
past hit-or-miss communications, despite good individual efforts.
The preparation for emergencies at family and neighborhood
levels should see a strong surge of interest due to the day-long
power failure. Inexpensive telephones that don’t require electrical
power to ring or work should be a must in every home. Batterypowered lights, laptop computers, devices to recharge cell phones
and emergency radios and even generators became hot sales items at
local stores.
Water and food for at least several days should be a basic element
of every home, along with a good First Aid kit.
As in East Palo Alto, neighbors helping neighbors will be the
first line of response in a serious emergency or catastrophe, and the
“block captain” program of Palo Alto Neighborhoods organization
deserves more support and participation.
Yet there are bigger questions that go to the very core of
emergency readiness.
Foremost is: “Why is Palo Alto dependent on a single
transmission link for its entire power supply?” This extreme
vulnerability to a repeat accident or intentional sabotage needs to be
addressed as a high priority.
Close behind is a catastrophe-waiting-to-happen: Two key
elements of the city’s emergency-response system are located in the
basement of City Hall: the citywide dispatch center that handles
911 calls and communicates with police, fire, utilities and public
works personnel, and the Emergency Operations Center where
top city officials and leaders gather during a crisis — as they did
Wednesday.
The fact is that the City Hall is considered vulnerable in case of
a large earthquake. Had advance strengthening work not been done
to the late-1960s building some believe it could have collapsed or
suffered serious damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, destroying
or disabling both emergency centers. A “portable dispatch center”
bus is on order for June delivery – none to soon.
To allow these dangerous situations to continue as long as they
have is irresponsible. That should be high among the “lessons
learned” from Palo Alto’s powerless Wednesday.
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Spectrum
Editorials, letters and opinions
High-speed rail vote
Editor,
An insightful comedian said to me
that voting against high-speed rail is
like voting against the future.
I must make a few points regarding
HSR. At the Palo Alto forum, many
skeptics offered their “constructive” feedback, but as a Caltrain and
BART rider many of these missed
their mark.
Having HSR stop in San Jose requires a transfer to get to San Francisco. Have any forum skeptics ridden
Caltrain to SFO before? If so, they’d
remember taking three separate
trains to get there with their luggage.
Transfers are the bane of quick and
convenient public transit.
Why should we listen to longtime
residents of Palo Alto when planning for future transit? Their lack of
vision years ago left the Peninsula
with crowded highways and without
BART!
Palo Alto should support HSR for
the future of Peninsula transit and
with a Palo Alto. station we might
even get a true Destination Palo
Alto.
Leo Hochberg
Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto
Destination Palo Alto
Editor,
Your editorial saying of the Destination Palo Alto program, “all’s well
that ends well” ignores an obvious
and serious error in CMR 138:10,
from which the council concluded
the program was a success.
It is a good thing the council voted
to end the program and transfer it to a
regional business group, but the data
suggests the program has been an
abysmal failure from the beginning.
CMR 138:10 was prepared by Susan Barnes, manager of economic
development, and sent to council
prior to last Monday’s meeting. Staff
and consultant agreed there was no
way to measure the results of the
consultant’s year long activities. Any
revenue coming from the hotel tax
(TOT) and retail sales taxes might
have happened without the program.
The staff report summarized data in
a chart showing the first year program cost of $240,000 , revenue of
$187,061 and a return on investment
(ROI) of 78 percent.
While it is true that $187,061 is
78 percent of $240,000, this is not
a ROI. A ROI of 78 percent would
have yielded revenue in the first year
of $427,200.
The city did not “invest” $240,000
in the Destination program; it spent
that amount as a fee to the consultant.
It is gone, forever! The result of the
first year is a loss of $52,939! How
can this be considered a success?
But it gets worse. The city has
spent another $120,000 on the program for the first half of the current
fiscal year, bringing the “investment”
to $360,000. Add the $350,000 the
city spent on the Senior Games, the
total the city has spent on promoting
Destination Palo Alto is $710,000.
Too bad council members (and the
Weekly) didn’t catch this error. I can
only hope council members will refrain from believing the unbelievable,
be more diligent in their oversight
obligations and be more temperate in
showering praise in the future.
Richard C. Placone
Chimalus Drive
Palo Alto
Freedom to marry
Editor,
Last Friday, Feb.12, was National
Freedom to Marry Day. Local rallies
took place at county clerk-recorderís
offices in Redwood City and San Jose
to support same-sex couples that wish
to marry.
Before last summer, when people
would ask whether our daughter
Kristina, a 1994 Gunn graduate, was
married, I would respond “married as
she can get in California.” I explained
that she and the woman she loved had
a beautiful wedding at Hidden Villa
in 2005, with family and friends in attendance. But since they were a samegender couple they had to settle for
registering as domestic partners.
Then last summer they proudly
walked up the steps of City Hall in
San Francisco to lay claim to their
newly acknowledged right to marriage and in a brief but moving civil
ceremony became married spouses.
It didn’t change their love for each
other, or ours for both of them, but
it’s wonderful to be able to answer the
question, “Is Kristina married?”with
an enthusiastic “yes” and follow up
with how wonderful it is to live close
enough to be able to help out with
their 1-year-old twin sons.
Sadly, the doorway to equal rights
was closed by passage of Proposition 8. For now, argument focuses
on who should prevail in the federal
court case challenging the validity of
the measure. Less attention has been
given to the status of marriages performed before its passage, but foes of
same-gender marriage are unlikely
to settle for any exceptions to their
vision of marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman.
I cringe when I think of the assaults on marriages like our daughter’s should the spirit of Proposition
8 prevail.
Someday, we won’t need a National
Freedom to Marry Day each year, but
until then the Valentine’s Day season
will continue to be a time to remind
Americans of our constitution’s promise of equality before the law. Please
support the right of all Americans to
marry the person they love.
Jerry Underdal
Georgia Avenue
Palo Alto
YOUR TURN
The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on
issues of local interest.
What do you think? How did you cope with the Palo Alto power
outage?
Submit letters to the editor of up to 250 words to letters@paweekly.com.
Include your name, address and daytime phone number so we can reach you.
We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel
and factual errors known to us. Anonymous letters will generally not be accepted.
You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town
Square, at our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read
blogs, discuss issues, ask questions or express opinions with you neighbors any
time, day or night.
Submitting a letter to the editor or guest opinion constitutes a granting of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly and Embarcadero Publishing Co. to also publish
it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.
For more information contact Editor Jay Thorwaldson or Online Editor Tyler
Hanley at editor@paweekly.com or 650-326-8210.
Sports
Shorts
PREP BASKETBALL
There’s no
lack of power
for Palo Alto
CARDINAL CORNER . . . The
eighth-ranked Stanford women’s
tennis team defeated visiting Boise State, 7-0, in a nonconference
match Wednesday, extending
the longest active home winning
streak in any collegiate sport to
155 matches. The last time the
Cardinal lost at home, Monica
Lewinsky was still in the news. It
was also the only time (Feb. 27,
1999) California beat the Cardinal
at Taube Tennis Center. Stanford (6-0) returns to action next
Wednesday against visiting Hawaii
at 1:30 p.m. The Stanford men’s
tennis team will host Boise State
on Friday at 1:30 p.m., before
hosting Cal on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Vikings overcome distractions and roll
to their first championship since 2007
W
NEW COACHES . . . Former Stanford coach Ron Turner is back
in town and joins Jim Harbaugh
on the Cardinal football coaching
staff along with Derek Mason,
it was announced Wednesday.
In addition, three other current
coaches had their duties redefined. Turner, a former assistant
coach at Stanford and the former head coach at San Jose
State and Illinois, will serve as
quarterbacks and wide receivers
coach. Mason, who spent the last
three seasons as the assistant
defensive backs coach with the
Minnesota Vikings, will serve as
defensive backs coach.
Friday
College baseball: Rice at Stanford,
5:30 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Saturday
College baseball: Rice at Stanford, 1
p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Men’s basketball: Stanford at Oregon
St., noon; Comcast Sports Net Bay Area;
XTRA Sports (860 AM); KZSU (90.1 FM)
Women’s basketball: Oregon St. at
Stanford, 7 p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
Sunday
College baseball: Rice at Stanford, 1
p.m.; KZSU (90.1 FM)
SPORTS ONLINE
For expanded daily coverage of college
and prep sports, please see our new site
at www.PASportsOnline.com
Palo Alto senior Kevin Brown (in white) helped four other seniors celebrate the team’s first
SCVAL De Anza Division title since 2007 with a 65-19 victory over Fremont on Wednesday.
(continued on page 20)
COLLEGE BASEBALL
For Stanford, season is new;
for Diekroeger, it’s his debut
by Rick Eymer
cial place in his heart.
enlo School grad Kenny Diek“I saw my first game here,” he said. “I
roeger could just as well be in was 10 years old and we had good seats
Port Charlotte instead of taking on the first base side. What I remember
the field with the rest of his Stanford most is coach (Mark) Marquess with
baseball teammates to open
all his energy, and his style of
the season on Friday night in
playing the game.”
Sunken Diamond.
Diekroeger has been fully
Diekroeger, a second-round
indoctrinated into that style
draft pick of the Tampa Bay
and is expected to be an imDevil Rays in June, spent part
portant part of the Cardinal
of this past summer hanging
lineup as it opens the season
out in the owner’s box at Tropwith a three-game series with
icana Field and taking batting
visiting Rice. He’s likely to
practice with the likes of Evan
start at third base, and also
Longoria.
will see action at shortstop,
“That was a special experisecond base and designated
Kenny Diekroeger
ence,” Diekroeger said. “It’s
hitter.
something I will always remember beStanford (30-25 last year) looks to
cause of the all-star treatment. I talked return to the postseason after missing
to Evan Longoria a little bit. He’s an all- out last year. It was just the fourth time
star and has been on magazine covers.” since 1980 the Cardinal were not part
Diekroeger, though, decided he would of the party, and the second time in the
be better off pursuing his education. It
helped that Stanford always held a spe(continued on page 20)
M
Kyle Terada/Stanford Athletics
ON THE AIR
Keith Peters
HELP WANTED . . . Priory is looking for a track and field coach
plus an assistant lacrosse coach
for the spring season. Those interested should contact Athletic
Director Mark Stogner at mstogner@prioryca.org . . . MenloAtherton is looking for a new head
football coach as well as coaches
for track and field, swimming
and a head frosh-soph baseball
coach. Anyone interested can
contact Mary Podesta at mpodesta@seq.org or 650-322-5311
ext 5708 . . . Castilleja is looking
for an assistant softball coach
for this spring. Those interested
should contact Athletic Director
Jez McIntosh at jez_mcintosh@
castilleja.org . . . Sacred Heart
Prep is seeking assistant coaches
in its girls’ lacrosse program.Interested applicants please contact
AD Frank Rodriguez at frodriguez@shschools.org or at (650)
473-4031.
by Keith Peters
hen a small plane crashed into a neighborhood in East Palo Alto on Wednesday morning and knocked out power to the City of Palo
Alto, the hope of the Palo Alto boys’ basketball team
hosting its Senior Night was left in the dark.
As the players wandered from one dark classroom to
another during the day-long power outage, the players
wondered if they would have a chance to host Fremont
at 7 p.m., honor the team’s five seniors on Senior Night
and, most likely, clinch the program’s first SCVAL De
Anza Division title since 2007 on their home floor.
“We were hoping it wouldn’t be postponed,” said
Paly senior Joseph Lin. “We were really ready to play
. . . being home is always special.”
The power was still out at 5 p.m., it was looking
like the game would be postponed — thus forcing the
Vikings to wait until Friday to clinch on the road at
Wilcox. Forty-five minutes later, however, the power
was back at Palo Alto High and the game was on.
That was a good thing for Palo Alto, but not so good
for Fremont.
With all five seniors starting the game, the Vikings
ran the Firebirds ragged. Paly raced to a 25-point halftime lead and coasted to a 65-19 triumph, its ninth
straight.
Palo Alto coach Bob Roehl was pleased with the
effort and the result, especially given the day’s distractions.
“It shows the growth of our team,” he said. “Dealing
with the power outage, Senior Night, the changes in
our lineup — a lot of changes. I was very impressed
with how they handled it.”
Roehl admitted to being concerned by how the day
would affect his players. When he walked into the
locker room before the game, he looked around and
saw a bunch of loose kids.
“They showed me that they were ready, so I just left
them alone to have fun,” Roehl said.
Roehl has been good about knowing when to reign
in the players and when to let them loose. That’s why
his team has grown so closely together and responded
Jordan Pries will be on the mound when Stanford opens its baseball season against visiting Rice on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 19
Sports
Basketball
2010 STANFORD BASEBALL
(continued from page 19)
Opponent
vs. Rice
vs. Rice
vs. Rice
vs. Pacific
at Texas
at Texas
at Texas
vs. Rikkyo (Japan)
at UC Davis
vs. UCSB
vs. UCSB
vs. UCSB
vs. Pepperdine
vs. Pepperdine
vs. Pepperdine
at Pacific
vs. USC*
vs. USC*
vs. USC*
vs. USF
at UCLA*
at UCLA*
at UCLA*
at California
vs. St. Mary’s
vs. Oregon*
vs. Oregon*
vs. Oregon*
at Santa Clara
Time
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
noon
11 a.m.
2:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
6 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
2 p.m.
2:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
noon
6 p.m.
Stanford baseball
(continued from page 19)
Keith Peters
to the challenges this season.
“It’s a lot more fun and relaxed,”
said senior Kevin Brown, a fouryear varsity player and the only
link to the 2007 league championship team. “When he (Roehl) took
over, we didn’t have any captains.
We didn’t feel a sense of support
for the (previous) coach. Everybody
was confused. But, the team stuck
together (under Roehl). We feel he
has made us more of a team, instead
of individuals. He knows how to win
and it translates over to us.”
Roehl previously coached under
Peter Diepenbrock on the 2005-06
state championship team. Roehl
made an impact with that group,
as well. That team featured Jeremy
Lin. The current squad has Jeremy’s
brother Joseph, a senior.
While the talent level of the two
squads is vastly different, there are
similar in the fact both play(ed)
hard and together as an unselfish
unit. Teamwork is everything.
“Everyone is comfortable playing
for him,” Joseph Lin said of Roehl,
who brought his son, Lance, on as
an assistant coach.
The teamwork was evident
Wednesday as the Vikings (10-1,
17-6) showed no loss of power on
the floor while making Fremont
look like a JV team. Roehl went
with his seniors for obvious reasons
and that group responded by grabbing a 12-2 lead thanks to Brendan Rider’s buzzer-beating threepointer. Fremont couldn’t penetrate
Paly’s zone, had a hard time just
getting off a shot and didn’t get its
first points until just 1:25 remained
in the quarter.
In the second quarter, Paly got
three straight treys from juniors
Max Schmarzo and Davante Adams plus Rider for a 26-11 lead.
Schmarzo also hit a three-pointer
at the buzzer to give the Vikings
a comfortable 33-7 halftime lead.
Paly’s fullcourt press disrupted the
Firebirds with 6-foot-3 junior Charlie Jones and Lin capitalizing on the
press with back-to-back steals and
layins at one point.
Paly’s five seniors — Niklas
Wahlberg, Kevin Brown, Steven
Kerr, Lin and Rider combined for 36
points. Rider and Jones both scored
12 points to lead a balanced and unselfish scoring attack. The Vikings
will close their regular season on
Friday at winless Wilcox with a title
already in hand.
“This is what their goal was, and
they were able to attain it,” Roehl
said of the title. “Now, it’s over. After the Wilcox game, we’ll sit down
on Saturday and get a new goal for
this group.”
Palo Alto was eliminated in the
second round of the Central Coast
Section playoffs last season and
failed to make their a year earlier
after forfeiting 11 games due to an
ineligible player. Thus, there’s plenty
of room for improvement this postseason and Palo Alto has the staying
power to make things happen.
Gunn, however, didn’t make
things happen on Wednesday. The
Titans decided against moving their
final home game to Sunnyvale to
face Homestead, thus postponing
the contest until Saturday. Gunn
Date
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Tuesday
Feb. 26
Feb. 27
Feb. 28
March 2
March 3
March 5
March 6
March 7
March 19
March 20
March 21
March 23
March 26
March 27
March 28
March 29
April 1
April 2
April 3
April 5
April 7
April 9
April 10
April 11
April 13
Palo Alto senior Joseph Lin drives in for a basket that helped the Vikings
beat Fremont for the SCVAL De Anza Division title.
(3-7, 10-12) will host the Mustangs
on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., after visiting Fremont on Friday.
In boys’ basketball action on
Tuesday night:
Sacred Heart Prep clinched no
worse than a tie for the West Bay
Athletic League championship with
a 61-44 drubbing of visiting Crystal
Springs. The Gators improved to
12-1 in league (18-5 overall) while
the Gryphons fell to 2-11 (5-18 overall). Sacred Heart can wrap up its
first league title since 2006 with a
victory over visiting King’s Academy on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
In Atherton, Menlo School moved
into sole possession of fourth place
in the WBAL with a 48-44 victory
over visiting Priory. The Knights
(7-6, 9-14) completed their season
sweep of the Panthers (4-9, 9-13) as
Richard Harris and Harrison Nida
led the way with 10 points each.
Brandon Willhite led Priory with
13 points in the defeat.
In Los Altos Hills, Pinewood
played without junior starters Kyle
Riches (broken hand), Aaron Daines
(concussion) and Arun Sundaresan
(ACL) and had a difficult time bottling up Harker’s three-point shooting. The result was a 63-50 loss for
Page 20ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
the host Panthers (9-4, 16-6. Pinewood was led by senior Max Lippe
with 18 points and sophomore Solomone Wolfgramm’s 17 points.
Girls’ basketball
Gunn kept its hopes alive for a
return trip to the CCS playoffs with
a 63-41 romp over visiting Monta
Vista in a SCVAL De Anza Division game on Tuesday night. The Titans improved to 6-5 in league (9-12
overall) while the Matadors fell to
5-6 (12-11). Freshman point guard
Claire Klausner and sophomore
center Cat Perez led Gunn with 16
points each while senior Rachael
Clark added 12. The Titans held
the Matadors to 1-for-2 free-throw
shooting.
In the first round of the WBAL
playoffs, host Menlo defeated King’s
Academy, 62-44, on Tuesday night
behind the strong play of Emma
Paye who led the team in scoring
with 15. Drew Edelman added 12
points and Lauren Lete chipped
in 11. Menlo played at Mercy-San
Francisco in a quarterfinal game
Thursday night.
In another WBAL first-round
game, host Sacred Heart Prep held
off Notre Dame-San Jose, 44-29. N
past three years.
Diekroeger joins an experienced
team that features five returning
position starters and eight pitchers
who appeared in at least 10 games
last year.
“There’s an extremely high level of
baseball in the Pac-10,” Diekroeger
said. “Some of the best pitchers in
the country are here. You can’t find
a better collection.”
Three sophomores make up the
starting rotation heading into the
season. Jordan Pries (4-4, 4.62 last
year) is scheduled to start Friday
night’s 5:30 p.m. game, with lefthanders Scott Snodgress (1-3, 5.85)
and Brett Mooneyham (6-3, 4.14)
scheduled to follow Saturday and
Sunday afternoons respectively.
“These are young sophomores but
they will be strong,” Marquess said.
“They all pitched well last year. The
Pac-10 is pitching dominant so it
will be a tough league.”
Among the 10 returning pitchers,
seven recorded at least one victory
and all but one had a decision. The
staff has a combined 134 games
(312 2-3 innings) of experience.
“I’ve been counting down the days
to the season,” Pries said. “There’s a
whole new core of talent and I hope
to build on last year. I had a couple
of good outings but I wasn’t consistent.”
Seven freshmen are also listed as
pitchers, making this a deep staff.
The only thing lacking may be a
closer, since Drew Storen headed
off to join the Washington Nationals’ organization after last year.
Marquess said the likely replacement candidates include Danny
Sandbrink or Alex Pratcher. Michael Marshall, Palo Alto grad
Carey Schwartz, Brian Busick, Kyle
Thompson and Chris Reed also return with some experience.
Pries had no idea what to expect as
a freshman and he ended up leading
the staff with 76 innings pitched.
“There was no way to expect that,”
Pries said. “I just wanted some sort
of role. I got the first start at Texas
April 16
April 17
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April 23
April 24
April 25
April 26
April 30
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May 12
May 14
May 15
May 16
May 18
May 21
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May 23
May 25
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at Oregon St.*
at Oregon St.*
at Oregon St.*
vs. Santa Clara
vs. California*
vs. California*
vs. California*
at Santa Clara
at Washington*
at Washington*
at Washington*
vs. SJ State.
at L. Beach St.
at L. Beach St.
at L. Beach St.
vs. Santa Clara
at SJ State
vs. WSU*
vs. WSU*
vs. WSU*
vs. Hawai’i
at Arizona*
at Arizona*
at Arizona*
vs. UC Davis
vs. Arizona St.
vs. Arizona St.*
vs. Arizona St.*
* Pac-10 game
5:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
1 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6:30 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
2 p.m.
1 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
noon
5:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
1 p.m.
and though of it as a big opportunity. Fortunately I ended up starting
the rest of the year.”
Diekroeger joins an infield that
has been rated among the best in
the country, if not the best. Second baseman Colin Walsh (.320,
25 RBI), shortstop Jake Schlander
(.232, 22 RBI) and Adam Gaylord
(.289-2 HR-27 RBI) give Stanford
an experienced, quality defense
that should alleviate worries among
the pitching staff. Schlander is the
reigning Pac-10 Defensive Player of
the Year.
“There are a lot of returners in the
infield and there are a lot of good
freshmen,” said Walsh, who participated in the Cape Cod League allstar game over the summer.
Toby Gerhart won’t be around this
spring but Stanford’s outfield still
will be quite good with the likes of
Kellen Kiilsgaard (.313-9-46), who
came to Stanford as a quarterback
but will likely leave as a high draft
pick in baseball.
“He’ll be in the middle of the
lineup,” Marquess said. “His power
potential is huge.”
The rest of the outfield will be patrolled by returners Kellen McCool,
David Giulani and Christian Griffiths among others.
Griffiths also gives the Cardinal
quality depth at the catching spot.
Zach Jones (.239-3-26) moved in fro
third base and took over the starting spot there last year. Ben Clowe
(.274-3-11) is another top-notch receiver whom Marquess would love
to see in the lineup as much as possible.
Palo Alto grad Peter Abrams and
Menlo School grad Jack Mosbacher
head a list of redshirt freshmen who
will give Stanford a deep bench.
Diekroeger isn’t the only local
freshman on campus. Sacred Heart
Prep grad Ryan Sadowski also joins
the Cardinal. The nation’s secondrated recruiting class (by Baseball
America) also includes Mark Appel
(no relation to Jayne), Sahil Bloom,
Garrett Hughes, Chris Jenkins,
Dean McArdle, Gavin McCourt,
Trevor Penny, Stephen Piscotty,
Justin Ringo, Eric Smith and Jacob
Stewart. N
Sports
COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS
Softball
The No. 11-ranked Cardinal (4-1)
will host the Stanford Nike Invitational, Friday through Sunday, at
Smith Family Stadium. Stanford
will play five games over the
weekend, as it hosts Illinois (Friday at 2:30 p.m.), UC Riverside
(Friday at 4:45 p.m.), Nevada
(Saturday at 11:15 a.m.), Sacramento State (Saturday at 1:30
p.m.) and Fresno State (Sunday
at 3:45 p.m.). Stanfordís Alissa
Haber and Ashley Hansen are
among the 50 players named to
the initial USA Softball National
Collegiate Player of the Year
watch list. The 50 picks represent 35 different schools and 14
different conferences. Haber and
Hansen were two of the 12 selections from the Pac-10. Stanford dropped on spot in both the
USA Today/NFCA poll and the
ESPN.com/USA Softball top-25,
coming in at No. 11 and No. 13,
respectively. The Cardinal has
appeared in every regular-season poll for more than a decade.
Six of the eight Pac-10 schools
appeared in both polls.
Men’s swimming
Nationally No. 2-ranked Stanford
(6-1, 2-1 Pac-10) will host arch rival, No. 4-ranked California (5-1,
2-1 Pac-10) on Saturday at the
Avery Aquatics Center at 1 p.m.,
closing out the dual-meet season prior to embarking on the
team’s 29th consecutive Pac-10
Conference title. The Cardinal features 17 times ranked
among the national top-15, led
by backstroker Eugene Godsoe,
and distance swimmer Chad La
Tourette. Stanford will have to
contend with one of the nation’s
fastest sprinters in Cal’s Nathan
Adrian, who has the nation’s
fastest 50 free time, secondbest 100 time and ninth-fastest
100 butterfly time. Adrian set
American records in the 50- and
100-meter frees for short course
at the Duel in the Pool in December, the same meet La Tourette
set the U.S. record in the 800
freestyle. Godsoe, a two-time
national swimmer of the week
this season, has the nation’s
fastest 100 back time of 46.67.
La Tourette, one of four Cardinal distance swimmers ranked,
has the sixth-fastest 500 free
(4:20.38) and 1,000-free (9:06.11)
times, as well as the third-fastest
1,650-yard time. Joining the Cardinal sophomore over the long
haul is David Mosko, Michael
Zoldos and Trevor Scheid, all of
whom boast a top-20 national
time. In the breaststroke, John
Criste (8th) and Curtis Lovelace
(16th) will have to contend with
Cal All-American Nolan Koon
and Slovenian Olympian Damir
Dugonjic, who rank third and
10th, respectively in the 100yard event. In diving, Cardinal
All-American Brent Eichenseer
has been the team’s top performer while senior All-American
Dwight Dumais battles a shoulder injury that has kept him out
since late January.
Women’s water polo
Top-ranked Stanford (8-0) opens
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action on Saturday with a
noon at No. 10 San Jose State
(7-5). San Jose State (7-5, 0-1
MPSF) enters Saturday’s contest
after having dropped its MPSF
opener, 10-5, to California last
Saturday. The Spartans are led
by the scoring of Sacred Heart
Prep grad Adriana Vogt (17
goals).
PREP WRESTLING
They’re hoping
to pin down
CCS honors
alo Alto freshman Trent Marshall won the lightest weight
division and Gunn’s Jake
Cherry took the heaviest. In between, Palo Alto sophomore Kalen
Gans won at 162 to highlight local
efforts at the SCVAL Championships on Saturday at the old Blackford High.
Palo Alto finished third in the
team standings on Saturday with
174 points while Gunn was fifth
with 136.5.
Despite being unseeded Marshall
captured the 105-pound title while
Cherry too the 287-pound division.
Gans, the top seed in his division,
defended that lofty spot by providing the third individual crown as all
advanced to the Central Coast Section championships on Friday and
Saturday at Independence High in
San Jose.
Action begins each day at 9 a.m.,
with finals on Saturday starting at
7 p.m.
Marshall, Gans and Cherry are
among a combined 15 Palo Alto
and Gunn wrestlers who qualified
for CCS by finishing in the top five
on Saturday. Other top qualifiers
included Paly’s Nick Ortiz (second
at 114), Paly’s Jack Sakai (second
at 132), Gunn’s Stefan Weidemann
(second at 142), and Gunn’s Spencer
Jones (second at 191).
Gunn qualifiers for CCS are:
Cherry (285), Weidemann (140),
Jones (189), Yoni Alon (130), Eric
Schmidt (160), Jon Chaplin (215).
Palo Alto qualifiers for CCS are:
Marshall (105), Ortiz (112), Joey
Christopherson (119), Sakai (130),
Max Simon (152), Gans (160),
Michael Cullen (171), AJ Castillo
(215), and Jose Tochez (285). N
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
P
Nicole Fasola
Max Schmarzo
Menlo School
Palo Alto High
The senior scored five goals
during three soccer victories, including two goals in
a 3-0 triumph over King’s
Academy in a playoff match
that earned the Knights
the WBAL’s third automatic
berth into the CCS playoffs.
The junior guard had 17
points in an important basketball win over Los Altos and
added 12 points plus solid
rebounding and defense to
beat Homestead and clinch
no worse than a title tie in the
SCVAL De Anza Division race.
Honorable mention
Felicia Anderson
Jake Cherry
Eastside Prep basketball
Massiel Castellanos
Priory soccer
Gunn wrestling
Kalen Gans
Palo Alto wrestling
Emilee Osagiede
Jesus Magana
Palo Alto basketball
Eastside Prep soccer
Mila Sheeline
Trent Marshall
Menlo soccer
Palo Alto wrestling
Natasha von Kaeppler
Castilleja basketball
Brendan Rider
Palo Alto basketball
Lizzy Weisman*
Guillermo Talancon
Sacred Heart Prep soccer
Priory soccer
* previous winner
To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 21
Arts & Entertainment
A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
Left: The shadow box “Shakespeare Writes A
Play,” complete with crinkly-paper hair. Below
left: In “Theater in Brazil in the 1500s,” the puppets have clay bodies and wiry legs. Below: Artist
Raquel Coelho in her exhibition.
A DOZEN
Scenes from the
history of theater come
alive in artist’s fanciful
shadow boxes
VIGNETTES
LÞÊ,iLiVV>Ê7>>ViÊUÊ« Ì}À>« ÃÊLÞÊ6Û>Ê7}
t would be tough to recount the entire sus’ cart wheels, they may be intrigued
history of world theater in 12 shadow to learn more about the theater.
boxes, but artist Raquel Coelho does
The Brazilian artist, who teaches in
a pretty good job hitting the high- San Jose State University’s animation/
lights.
illustration program, also creates kids’
Inside handmade redwood frames, books. Illustrations of the “Teatro” boxes
Coelho’s dioramas depict crayon-colored were published as a book in Brazil, as
scenes from theater traditions in Japan, part of a series that also includes the hisGreece, India and other lands. Perky clay tory of animation and music.
puppets take center stage, orating and
First Coelho wrote the books, then dedancing. It’s like a festival of visual-art signed them. She then created the boxes
one-acts.
and illustrations. It’s all done in a cheerAnd the Bard gets a box to himself. In ful, approachable style. At the CSMA
“Shakespeare Writes A Play,” the puppet opening reception last Friday, Coelho told
playwright has a body made from elegant a crowd she sees the works as “rustic, not
wine-colored corduroy and hair of crin- perfectionist,” almost improvisational.
kly paper. He grasps a giant quill.
Clearly delighted to see all the shadow
The details aren’t just whimsy. In the boxes together again in a gallery, she said:
dozen shadow boxes now on display at “Here’s my family. My 12 kids!”
the Community School of Music and
The crowd seemed pleased, too. One
Arts in Mountain View, Coelho hopes to visitor, John Reiland, praised the work for
capture the fleeting attention of children. its “folkloric quality.”
Once they zero in on the doll eyes of the
In creating the shadow boxes, Coelho
medieval actors in the “Middle Ages” said, she started by thinking about her
box or the pennies that serve as Diony- favorite aspects of theater: the sense of
I
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play, the chance for an actor to
become something he’s not,
the costumes. She incorporated
antique hardware, handmade
puppets and other items in the
boxes.
In “Early Greek Theater,”
painted cut-outs of people are
the focus. One declaims enthusiastically as a chorus of other figures awaits a cue. The diorama is
trimmed with plastic ivy leaves
and bordered with a proscenium
of red and gold ribbons.
Actors’ legs are fashioned from
red twisted wire in “Theater in
Brazil in the 1500s,” giving them
a playful look. A monk in brown
cloth robes teaches, or perhaps
leads a rehearsal.
The exhibition also includes
a glass case featuring some of
Coelho’s books and figures used
in her animation work.
Coelho has also explored other
branches of the arts world, playing viola, studying modern dance
and singing with Brazilian-music
bands. Looking at her shadow
boxes on Friday, she said she
wouldn’t mind adding another
hands-on skill to her arsenal.
“I wish each box had a crank,”
she said: Viewers could turn it
and the puppets could move. She
shrugged, grinning. “But I can’t
do the mechanism — too much
engineering.” N
What: A show of shadow
boxes exploring the history
of theater, by Raquel Coelho
Where: Community School
of Music and Arts’ Mohr Gallery, 230 San Antonio Circle,
Mountain View
When: Through March 28,
open weekdays from 9 a.m.
to 7 p.m. and Saturdays
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost: Free
Info: Go to www.arts4all.org
or call 650-917-6800, ext.
306.
Thanks to Presenting Sponsor
Nancy Goldcamp, Coldwell Banker
Where age is just a number
Top: The colorful, mixed-media “Indian Theater.” Above: An actor declaims energetically in “Early Greek Theater.”
*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊU Page 23
Arts & Enterainment
A hard look at bullying
Palo Alto Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre puts on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Secret Life
of Girls,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; a tale of middle school
by Rebecca Wallace
S
close to home for the young actors.
But Jeanette doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t appear fazed by
playing Kayla, a girl who was once
best friends with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;queen bee,â&#x20AC;?
Stephanie, and now desperately tries
to win back her favor.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I can share a lot of experiences
with Kayla,â&#x20AC;? Jeanette says matterof-factly.
Sharing experiences is the goal
behind the production, which opens
Feb. 25. Managing artistic director
Judge Luckey and the rest of the
childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theater staff want to use
the play as an opportunity not only
to highlight what really goes on with
girls, but also to offer an outlet for
discussion. Each performance will
be followed by a talkback session
facilitated by family psychologist
Erica Pelavin and life coach Susie
Idzik. The show is meant for audience members ages 12 and over.
Luckey was originally struck
by the play because of its focus
on educating the community. He
and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Girlsâ&#x20AC;? director Nancy Sauder
met with middle- and high-school
counselors in the Palo Alto Unified
School District to go over the script.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;They all said everything that was
in the script they encounter,â&#x20AC;? Luckey says.
Sauder, who has acted with The-
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Veronica Weber
itting in the audience at the
Palo Alto Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre, seventh-grader Jeanette
Freiberg ponders her acting career.
Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a veteran of six productions
here so far.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In past shows Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been princesses and dragons,â&#x20AC;? she says. Her
latest role may require a different
strain of Method acting. This time,
this middle-schooler is playing a
middle-schooler.
Jeanette says Linda Daughertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Secret Life of Girlsâ&#x20AC;? is the
first play she��&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;really
realistic.â&#x20AC;? The script takes a hard
look at middle-school bullying: the
name-calling, rumors and exclusion
that have become rampant. Technology is a big player, with the characters shooting nasty photos on their
phones and dropping gossip bombs
through texting and IMs.
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an up-close, up-to-the-minute
story, so the show is being done in
the theaterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s informal black-box
space. Here, the smell of fresh paint
from the scene shop mingles with
audience chairs that line the small
performance space on three sides.
Various props are scattered about:
cellphones, a Ouija board for a
slumber-party scene, a volleyball.
The story may seem to hit too
From left, Carly King, Sioned Hughes, Addie McNamara, Chelsey Ko and Jeanette Freiberg rehearse a scene
from â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Secret Life of Girls.â&#x20AC;?
atreWorks and other Bay Area companies, sees theater as an excellent
medium to educate about bullying.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Girlsâ&#x20AC;? shows cruel acts from the
perspectives of both the perpetrator and the victim, highlighting the
consequences of actions.
In the slumber-party scene, for instance, audience members glimpse
girls on both ends of a mean phone
call. Queen bee Stephanie is on one
end, and the girl who is being ridiculed and left out of the party on the
other.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a chance for the girls to see
themselves,â&#x20AC;? Sauder says. That goes
for those both in the audience and
on stage. The cast consists of seven
girls â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all seventh- and eighth-graders in real life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and two adults.
The play highlights how a girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
social status, like her Facebook
status, can constantly change. One
minute sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popular; the next she
makes a mistake on the volleyball
court and her teammates decide to
hate her. The roller coaster can be
just as traumatic for parents, and the
play also shows that, says Sauder,
herself the mother of two girls.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that place where you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
know what to do, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what
to say,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no manual.â&#x20AC;?
Resource materials will be provided for parents at each performance.
Sioned Hughes, a seventh-grader
at JLS Middle School in Palo Alto,
plays one of the characters who feels
her stock go up and down. She gets
to go to the mall with Stephanie
and thinks theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re friends, but before long Stephanie is ridiculing her
and everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making fun of her
weight.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really honest,â&#x20AC;? Sioned says of
the script. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been through bitchiness in middle school before. ... You
realize youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not the only person
getting picked on. Everyone has
been picked on.â&#x20AC;?
Playwright Daugherty allows
theater groups to update her 2006
script in each production, changing slang, technology and music so
that the show feels fresh. For her
part, Sioned is pleased to be replacing some of the songs used in earlier productions. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Beatles,â&#x20AC;? she
says, rolling her eyes.
As rehearsal starts, the girls cluster around Sauder in their jeans and
Ugg boots and sneakers. They work
on various scenes, vignettes in the
life of this group of girls on a middle-school volleyball team. Sauder
gives gentle but firm direction, fixing blocking, helping the girls adjust
their motions and motivations.
Playing Kayla, Jeanette has a
monologue on the phone with her
mother after the other girls have
yelled at her. She says she has a
stomachache, asks to be picked up,
and says despondently, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
The Hottest Restaurant In
Town Has A New Home!!
just not going good.â&#x20AC;?
In another scene, Stephanie complains about Rebecca, saying: â&#x20AC;&#x153;She
is such a pathetic suck-up. And you
cannot trust her.â&#x20AC;?
From time to time, the girls forget
lines, act goofy and giggle together.
There is a lot of youthful energy going around, after all.
But in a play with such painful
moments, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost a pleasure
when the actors break character.
The laughter sounds sweet, not gossipy. The girls seem to be making
friends through their common love
of theater, and when the stories being told are so difficult, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s refreshing. N
What: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Secret Life of
Girls,â&#x20AC;? a Linda Daugherty play
about bullying, presented by
Palo Alto Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre
Where: PACTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s black-box theater, 1305 Middlefield Road,
Palo Alto
When: Feb. 25 through March
6, with shows at 8 p.m. Feb.
25 and 26; 2 and 8 p.m. Feb.
27; 4:30 p.m. March 4; 8 p.m.
March 5; 2 and 8 p.m. March
6.
Cost: Tickets are $10 for
adults and $5 for children.
Info: Call 650-463-4970 or
go to www.cityofpaloalto.org/
childrenstheatre.
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Movies
(Century 16, Century 20) Movie projectors have
shutters that regulate the output of light, and cameras have shutters that regulate the intake of light, not
unlike the iris of the human eye. So it is, then, that
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutter Island,â&#x20AC;? Martin Scorseseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new film from
Dennis Lehaneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s novel, takes on a reflexivity reminiscent of the work of two of Scorseseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s idols, Alfred
Hitchcock and Michael Powell.
With its symbolic lighthouse keeping silent watch,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutter Islandâ&#x20AC;? tells an age-old story â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one that
goes back over 2,000 years to Sophocles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; of the
human capacity to withhold or accept light, aka the
truth, as it insistently shines into our Jungian shadows.
Jutting disconcertingly from Boston Harbor, the
foreboding Shutter Island is home to Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. In 1954, U.S. Marshal
Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and new partner
Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) arrive to investigate the
mysterious and perhaps fatal disappearance of a female patient. They meet with stone walls both literal
and figurative, as chief physician Dr. John Cawley
(Ben Kingsley) and colleague Dr. Jeremiah Naehring
(Max von Sydow) discuss and display defense mechanisms. Something lies beneath the orderly surface of
Ashecliffe, but what?
A postwar alcoholic, Teddy is haunted by varieties of violence: the death of his wife and children in
an apartment fire; his war experience, including the
liberation of Dachau; and now, on Shutter Island, the
psychological violence between men as ideologies
clash for dominance. Even the psychiatric profession
is at war, with surgical and pharmaceutical options
jockeying for sway over old-fashioned person-toperson therapy.
Teddyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investigation will take him into the heart of
a dark labyrinth, literally (in the form of the off-limits
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ward Câ&#x20AC;?) and figuratively as he is pulled down into
NOW PLAYING
The following is a sampling of movies
recently reviewed in the Weekly:
Avatar --(Century 16, Century 20) James Cameronâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
plot focuses on Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a disabled ex-Marine lying in a VA hospital. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tapped to replace his late twin
brother in a corporationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s avatar program,
which mixes human DNA with that of the
native Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vi population living on Pandora,
the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mining colony. The â&#x20AC;&#x153;dumb
grunt,â&#x20AC;? who has no avatar training, must
quickly learn how to manage his remotely
controlled, 10-foot-tall body in a hostile
environment. The payoff? The jarhead gets
his legs back. Things get more complicated when the avatar team headed by Dr.
OPENINGS
Shutter Island ---
the claustrophobic insanity of the place heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed
to be investigating. (Some of the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first words
are famous last words, spoken by Teddy to a warder:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You act like insanity is catchingâ&#x20AC;?).
A mystery and a paranoid thriller with more than a
touch of Gothic horror, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutter Islandâ&#x20AC;? gives Scorsese plenty of to work with. In most respects, his direction here is masterful. The music (a modern-classical
collage soundtrack again produced by Robbie Robertson), the richly detailed production design of Dante
Ferretti, and the overall genius of Scorseseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s audiovisual storytelling transcend the practical element of
Laeta Kalogridisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; purposefully cluttered screenplay
to feed a fever dream. Aptly, the famed German expressionist silent â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Cabinet of Dr. Caligariâ&#x20AC;? was
another inspiration to the filmmaker.
Because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a Scorsese film, the cast is cream of the
crop. Along with Ruffalo, Kingsley and von Sydow,
Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, Ted Levine and John Carroll
Lynch all strike appropriately dissonant notes that
contribute to the pictureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unsettling tone.
As for DiCaprio, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never been better; pushed to
extremes, he ably conjures the torturous strain of each
situation. The perhaps overlong midsection of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutter Islandâ&#x20AC;? can be trying, and certainly, apart from the
presence of its star, the film is defiantly uncommercial in its sometimes indulgent arrhythmia and its tingly unreliable narrative. But multiplex entertainment
this distinctive and provocative doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come along
every day: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a head trip well worth taking.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;THE MOST OVERWHELMINGLY ROMANTICâ&#x20AC;&#x153;
.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?MOVIE SINCE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;THE NOTEBOOK.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;A true blue American love story.â&#x20AC;?
Rated R for disturbing violent content, language
and some nudity. Two hours, 18 minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese
To view the trailer for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shutter Island,â&#x20AC;? go to Palo Alto
Online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com
NOW PLAYING
CHECK LOCAL LISTINGS FOR THEATERS AND SHOWTIMES
SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT
Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) realizes that science and peaceful diplomacy
are only part of its mission. Rated PG-13 for
intense epic battle sequences and warfare,
sensuality, language and some smoking.
Occasionally in the fictional Naâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;vi language
with English subtitles. 2 hours, 42 minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; S.T. (Reviewed Dec. 18, 2009)
Crazy Heart --(CineArts, Century 20) Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one reason
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crazy Heartâ&#x20AC;? is a must-see: Jeff Bridges.
Bridges plays Bad Blake, a faded countrywestern music star relegated to playing
dives. He treats his chronic weariness
with drinking, defensive pleasantries and
one-night stands. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to face up to
the disappointments that have brought him
here, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to blame someone else
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; his manager, perhaps, or his one-time
friend and colleague Billy Sweet (Colin Farrell), currently living the music-star life that
has slipped from Badâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fingers. Traveling
America in his beat-up â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;78 Chevy truck,
Bad would rather be left alone to anesthetize himself before, during and after gigs,
but he agrees to an interview with a hopeful
music journalist named Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Bad seduces her and realizes that,
for the first time in a long time, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not
interested in leaving his conquest behind.
Rated R for language and brief sexuality.
One hour, 51 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed
Jan. 8, 2010)
Dear John -(Century 16, Century 20) John (Channing
(continued on next page)
Question: Where can you get a 4 course
dinner in Palo Alto for less than
$15?
Answer:
The only authentic French crĂŞperie on the Peninsula
Bistro Maxine
"Le Menu" prix fixe
Served after 6pm
Includes
548 Ramona Street j Palo Alto
650-323-1815
www.bistromaxine.com
-------Tuesday - Friday: 8am to 2.30pm
6pm to 10pm
Saturday:
8am to 10pm
Sunday:
9am to 4pm
Soupe du jour (vegetarian)
House salad
Savory crĂŞpe of your choice
Dessert
Only $14.95
AMC
CAMERA CINEMAS
CINEMARK
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Cupertino (888) AMC-4FUN
Campbell (408) 559-6900
Palo Alto (800) FANDANGO 914#
Morgan Hill (408) 778-6500
AMC CUPERTINO
SQUARE 16
AMC
MERCADO 20
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Santa Clara (888) AMC-4FUN San Jose (800) FANDANGO 972# San Jose (800) FANDANGO 983#
TENNANT STATION
STADIUM 11
CALL THEATRE OR
CHECK DIRECTORY
FOR SHOWTIMES
*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;iLĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂ&#x2122;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ¤Ă&#x160;U Page 25
Movies
NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING
of the City of Palo Alto
Architectural Review Board (ARB)
Please be advised that Thursday, March 4, 2010, the ARB shall conduct
a public hearing at 8:30 AM in the Council Chambers, 1st Floor, 250
Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may
appear and be heard.
2310 El Camino Real-10PLN-00019]: Request by Kyle Chan of Hayes
Group Architects on behalf of Tevis Family Partnership for preliminary
review of the remodel of an existing restaurant to be occupied by new
tenant. Environmental Assessment: Categorically exempt from California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. Zone: (CN).
310 University Avenue [10PLN-00050]: Request by Joe Kazlauskas on
behalf of Milpitas Dixon LLC for architectural review of illuminated above
canopy signs for Walgreens. A sign exception has been requested. Exempt
from the provisions of CEQA per Section 15301. Zone: CD-C(GF)(P).
MOVIE TIMES
A Single Man (R) ((((
Aquarius: 8:30 p.m. Fri.-Wed. also at 5:30 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 2:30 p.m.
Avatar (PG-13) (((
Century 16: In 3D at 11:55 a.m.; 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7, 9 & 10:25 p.m. (No 1:30 show Sat. and Sun.)
Century 20: In 3D at 11:20 a.m.; 12:35, 1:35, 2:50, 4:10, 5:30, 6:30, 8, 9:05 & 10 p.m.
The Blind Side (PG-13) ((
Century 20: 12:40, 3:40, 6:35 & 9:30 p.m.
Celine: Through the Eyes of
World (Not Rated)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: Sat. & Sun. at 1:30 p.m. Mon. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m. Century 20: Sat. & Sun. at the
1:30 p.m. Mon. & Thu. at 7:30 p.m.
Crazy Heart (R) (((
Century 20: 11:25 a.m.; 2, 4:35, 7:20 & 9:55 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 2, 4:40 & 7:20 p.m. Fri.Sat. also at 10:05 p.m.
Dear John (PG-13) ((
Century 16: 12:10, 2:45, 7:05 p.m. Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 1:45, 4:25, 7 & 9:50 p.m.
Edge of Darkness (R) (((
Century 20: 11:30 a.m.; 5 & 10:30 p.m.
From Paris with Love (R) ((
Century 16: 7:50 & 10:10 p.m. Century 20: 4:50, 7:10 & 9:40 p.m.
The Imaginarium of Doctor
Parnassus (PG-13) (((
Century 16: 9:40 p.m. Century 20: 10:20 p.m.
It’s Complicated (R) (((
Century 20: 2:15 & 7:40 p.m. Palo Alto Square: 1:45 p.m. Fri.-Tue. & Thu. also at 4:30 & 7:15
p.m. Fri.-Sat. also at 10 p.m.
The Last Station (R) ((1/2
Guild: 3:15, 6 & 8:45 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 12:30 p.m.
2701 Middleﬁeld Rd. [09PLN-00314]: Request by All Signs Services,
on behalf of Duca and Hanley Properties, Inc., for architectural review for
of illuminated wall signs and façade improvements for CVS Pharmacy.
Exempt from the provisions of CEQA, Section 15301. Zone: CN(GF)(P).
The Metropolitan Opera: Simon Century 20: Wed. at 6:30 p.m. Palo Alto Square: Wed. at 6:30 p.m.
Boccanegra (Not Rated) (Not Reviewed)
California Avenue Streetscape Changes-Phase II: Request by Public
Works Engineering for a Study Session on the proposed California
Avenue streetscape modiﬁcations from El Camino Real to the CalTrain
Depot that include replacement of street furniture (benches, bicycle racks,
news racks, etc), addition of bicycle racks, crosswalk improvements,
and restriping of trafﬁc lanes and automobile parking spaces. Phase II
includes improvements to the plaza at the end of the street.
Shutter Island (R)
The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with
disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities,
services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more
about the City’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (ADA), please contact the City’s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550
(voice) or by e-mailing ada@cityofpaloalto.org.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Century 16: 11:30 a.m.; 12:50, 2:15, 3:35, 5, 6:20, 7:45, 9:10 & 10:30 p.m.
The Lightning Thief (PG)
Century 20: 11:10 a.m.; 12:25, 1:55, 3:15, 4:40, 6:10, 7:30, 9 & 10:15 p.m.
(Not Reviewed)
(((
Century 16: 11:45 a.m.; 12:55, 2:05, 3:15, 4:25, 5:35, 6:45, 7:55, 8:55 & 10 p.m. Century 20:
11:45 a.m.; 12:55, 2:10, 3:10, 4:05, 5:15, 6:15, 7:15, 8:20, 9:20 & 10:25 p.m.
Tooth Fairy (PG)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 12:20, 2:50 & 5:20 p.m. Century 20: 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:55 p.m.
Up in the Air (R) (((1/2
Century 16: Noon, 2:35, 5:05, 7:40 & 10:15 p.m. Century 20: 11:50 a.m.; 2:25, 5:10, 7:50 &
10:25 p.m.
Valentine’s Day (PG-13) ((1/2 Century 16: 11:35 a.m.; 12:35, 1:35, 2:30, 3:40, 4:35, 5:35, 6:35, 7:30, 8:25, 9:25 & 10:20 p.m.
Century 20: 11:15 a.m.; 12:05, 1, 2, 2:55, 3:50, 4:55, 5:55, 6:45, 7:45, 8:50, 9:45 & 10:35 p.m.
When in Rome (PG-13) 1/2
Century 20: 11:55 a.m. & 2:20 p.m.
The White Ribbon (R) ((((
Aquarius: 4:30 & 8 p.m. Fri.-Sun. also at 1 p.m.
The Wolfman (R)
(Not Reviewed)
Century 16: 11:40 a.m.; 12:30, 1:20, 2:10, 3:05, 3:55, 4:45, 5:40, 6:30, 7:10, 8:10, 9:05, 9:55 &
10:40 p.m. Century 20: 11:40 a.m.; 12:45, 2:10, 3:05, 4:35, 5:35, 7:05, 8:05, 9:35 & 10:40 p.m.
( Skip it (( Some redeeming qualities ((( A good bet (((( Outstanding
Internet address: For show times, plot synopses, theater addresses, trailers and more information about films playing,
go to Palo Alto Online at http://www.PaloAltoOnline.com/
Amy French
Manager of Current Planning
DINNER BY THE MOVIES AT SHORELINE’S
Pizzeria Venti
Ciao Bella!
I
t didn’t take long for businesswoman, Bella Awdisho, to recognize something
was missing in Mountain View. After long research, it became apparent that
ﬁnding a one-of-a-kind restaurant to bring to the Mountain View area would not
be easy. “I just could not see opening another run-of-the-mill restaurant in an
area ﬁlled with such innovation” said Mrs. Awdisho. Her search ended when she
found Pizzeria Venti, a small boutique pizzeria based in Italy.
Her introduction to Italian cuisine was in-depth, to say the least. It began with
a culinary arts program that included training under the Tuscany sun. “The
training was really eye-opening. I learned about the nuances of true Italian
cooking; about the quality and passion that goes into every dish. It’s amazing.”
said Bella. “Covering everything from pasta and sauces to the tradition of Italy
famous “pizza al taglio” or pizza by the cut, the training was a once-in-a-lifetime
experience which is simply not available to most restaurateurs.”
Traveling in Italy
A
able!
l
i
a
v
a
ng
cateri
1390 Pear Ave., Mountain View
(650) 254-1120
www.mvpizzeriaventi.com
Page 26ÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊ£]ÊÓä£äÊUÊ*>ÊÌÊ7iiÞ
Hours:
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday
9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday
wdisho said that she was extremely anxious to start her own Pizzeria Venti
right here in Mountain View. “I recognized the uniqueness of our location,”
she noted “so I put many resources into the marketing of the location. We
continue to offer to our customers many of the dishes I was introduced to in
Italy.” So successful was this introduction that Awdisho had to double the size of
her kitchen, adding additional equipment to handle the demand. Executive Chef,
Marco Salvi, the training chef in Italy, provided many new recipes for use in her
restaurant. Chef Marco provided some insight “The ingredients say it all. We work
to provide a ﬁnished dish which will honor its origins and create a wonderful
experience for our customers.”
Authenticity – Not just a word
E
ach new dish is hand selected with an eye towards authenticity. Even its
rustic style pizza has a bit of Italia in it, made daily on-premise and using only
imported water from Italy. “For me, one of the most important components of the
training in Italy was the cultural understanding of these recipes. I was able to bring
this back to our customers,” said Bella. She continues, “I know our customers really
appreciate what we do. We are so grateful that they allow us our passion.”
Movies
(continued from page 25)
Tatum) is one hunky dude: broad chest,
good head of dark hair. And Savannah
(Amanda Seyfried), with her little round
gerbil face and enormous turquoise eyes,
is certainly a cutie. During a two-week
spring break â&#x20AC;&#x201D; hers from college, his from
the army â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they meet and fall in love on
the beach near Charleston. But what they
have in common besides their good looks
(sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a horse-country rich girl, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the
bad-boy son of a reclusive coin collector) is
a mystery. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dear Johnâ&#x20AC;? is a sweet enough
romance-cum-war story, though its cloying score and the numbing nobility of all
its characters are off-putting. The plot had
enough complications to hold my interest. Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and
violence. One hour, 48 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C.
(Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010)
The Last Station --1/2
(Guild) The film opens in 1910, with Leo
Tolstoy (Christopher Plummer) more or
less happily ensconced at his family estate
Yasnaya Polyana. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s irritably aware of
the contradiction represented by this piece
of private property, a notion he has publicly
renounced. With his career as a novelist
already history, Tolstoy has become the
spiritual leader of a social movement that
captures the imagination of many a youth
and in equal proportion threatens those invested in the social order. His wife, Count-
ess Sofya (Helen Mirren) falls in the latter
camp. Since her husband seems likely, in
death, to relinquish his estate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the
rights to his works â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to a common good,
jealous socialite Sofya maintains a thick,
rich lather around her husband and his
trusted associate Vladimir Chertkov (Paul
Giamatti). Rated R for a scene of sexuality/
nudity. One hour, 52 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; P.C. (Reviewed Feb. 5, 2010)
A Single Man ---(Aquarius) Little actually happens in â&#x20AC;&#x153;A
Single Man,â&#x20AC;? Tom Fordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut film about a
gay British expatriate living in Santa Monica in 1962. And yet everything happens in
one day in the life of George Falconer (Colin Firth): grief, love, remembrance, work,
fear ... Jim (Matthew Goode), Georgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
longtime lover, has been killed in an accident, and George sees little reason to
continue living. But he goes through the
motions, teaching at the college where he
works, visiting his best friend, Charley (Julianne Moore), letting himself be pursued
by a student who wants to confide in him,
and perhaps more. Fordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s script, from a
novel by Christopher Isherwood, captures
not only the pain, both hidden and overt, of
one gay man, but also some of the repressive spirit of the time just before the sexual
revolution changed everything. Rated R for
nudity, some disturbing images and sexual
content. One hour, 39 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; R.P.
(Reviewed Dec. 25, 2009)
of standard Hollywood schmaltz. Rated
PG-13 for some sexual material and brief
partial nudity. 1 hour, 30 minutes. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; T.H.
(Reviewed Feb. 12, 2010)
STANFORD THEATER
The Stanford Theatre is at 221
University Ave. in Palo Alto. Go
to www.stanfordtheatre.org or
call 650-324-3700.
The Seven Samurai (1954)
Residents of a village under
attack by bandits recruit
seven unemployed samurai
to help defend themselves.
Sat.-Thu. at 7:30 p.m., Sat. &
Sun. also at 2 p.m.
February 19
Doors open at 6pm
For one hour of Mardi Gras
Zydeco dancing
Movie 7:30pm
â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Good Marriageâ&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Le Beau Marriageâ&#x20AC;?
1982 film by Eric Rohmer.
With Beatrice Romand, AndrĂŠ
Dussollier, Arielle Dombasle,
Thamila Mezbah, FĂŠdor Atkine.
Received a Cesar Award at Cannes
for Best writing and Best dialogue.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most exquisite story I have
seen in a long timeâ&#x20AC;? Rolling Stones
Established in 1977, the French Film Club is an
independent non-profit Organization, open to the
public. For full program and discounted tickets or
to email us go to:
frenchfilmclubofpaloalto.org
;0'%*#,*:'*.)/4#.&
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#6#*,#$,'
;#.15'4#.&%#4'2*.(
#2'#6#*,#$,'
Szechwan & Hunan Gourmet
',
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+*.(+*.((/52-'4%/-
Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day --1/2
(Century 16, Century 20) Celebrated director Garry Marshall assembles an A-list cast
for this mediocre romantic comedy about
everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favorite â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or most reviled â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Hallmark holiday. Varied characters and
storylines weave together on Feb. 14 in the
city of angels, including Ashton Kutcher as
a flower-shop owner and Jessica Alba as
his ambivalent girlfriend; Jennifer Garner as
a sensitive teacher and Patrick Dempsey
as the two-timing doctor romancing her;
and Taylor Lautner and country singer
Taylor Swift as a nauseatingly chipper set
of high-school sweethearts. Confused
by the cornucopia ensemble? Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not
alone. The biggest problem with the film is
that the big-name cast is distracting, and it
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow the audience to get attached
to any one character. The script is sporadically clever and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plenty of V-Day
cheer. But with a cast that reads like the
Vogue Oscar party guest list, this should
have been canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t-miss cinema instead
Discover the
FRENCH FILM CLUB
OF PALO ALTO at
PALO ALTO ART CENTER
1313 Newell Road
Call for special banquet and
catering menu
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1 ZV[e
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Fri & Sat ONLY 2/19-2/20
Crazy Heart 2:00, 4:40, 7:20, 10:05
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Complicated 1:45, 4:30, 7:15, 10:00
Wed ONLY 2/24
Crazy Heart 2:00, 4:40, 7:20
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Complicated 1:45
Sun-Tues ONLY 2/21-2/23
Crazy Heart 2:00, 4:40, 7:20
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Complicated 1:45, 4:30, 7:15
Thurs ONLY 2/25
Crazy Heart 2:00, 4:40, 7:20
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Complicated 1:45, 4:30, 7:15
Offers:
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